The Parting Gift
by Persephone287
Summary: A "maybe if I had met you first" story with a major twist. Elena meets Damon the night her parents die but he doesn't compel her to forget and he isn't obsessed with freeing Katherine. Instead, he decides that this time he's going to get the girl. TVD-esque hijinks ensue with lots and lots of Delena.
1. Chapter 1 - Strangers in the Road

**AU: Much to my dismay, I own none of these characters.**

**Imarifirst inspired this story and I'm not really sure where it's going…but I'm a go where the wind takes you kind of girl. It's a bit out of my comfort zone but I couldn't get the notion out of my head. TVD lore (i.e. vampire powers, doppelgangers, etc.) is the same but I messed with the timeline a bit. We're starting in Elena's senior year. So far this is mostly Damon's POV but I'll jump to Elena, too. As with my other fics, perspective changes are indicated by a bold first letter. I'm so nervous about this story and I really, really hope you all enjoy reading it! Reviews are love and I do so love to be loved ;)**

**Xoxo**

**Chapter 1 – Strangers in the Road**

1864

**E**mily Bennett's unrecognizably charred body felt feather light in his arms as he carried her to the graveyard near his childhood home. Damon Salvatore was trying very hard to pretend he didn't care that the witch he planned to bury near his mother was dead. He figured he was probably failing. Barely contained rage flowed through him as he stormed through the woods. Katherine was lost to him and the one person who could help him bring her back was burnt to a crisp. The Town Council was entirely to blame and they were going to pay. Still, he was a man of his word and Emily's children were safe at his home. He swore if it was the last thing he did he would ensure that they, and all future Bennett's, would never have to worry about being burned alive. To hell with the Founding Families, his own included. The ones who had done this, the ones who had ruined his life, they were going to die and he was going to be the one to kill them. If his very hungry little brother didn't get to them first. After he'd finished burying her, he made his way back to his house and whatever was left of his humanity steeled itself for what he had to say to her children. When he walked through the front door a young girl with solemn brown eyes was sitting at the bottom of his stairs.

"Is my Mama gone?" she asked him.

"Yes, she is"

A tear slid down her coffee colored cheek and she nodded.

"You're Damon Salvatore?"

"I am"

"She told me to ask you if you plan to fulfill your promise"

"Yes. She did her best to hold up her end so I'll hold up mine"

"Where…where is she?" the girl's voice wavered.

"Buried in my family's cemetery. I'll commission her a headstone so that you can visit her" he said gently.

She eyed him for a long moment before reaching into her coat pocket and producing an envelope.

"She said to give you this" she handed him the envelope.

_Damon Salvatore _was scrawled across the front and he looked at it curiously before opening it.

_Mr. Salvatore, _

_If you're reading this then I am surely dead and my daughter has decided that you are trustworthy enough to deserve this letter. I am sorry I couldn't help you get Katherine back but she was not who you thought she was. I will find peace knowing that my children are safe and for that I have a parting gift. Burn this letter in the flame of a white candle and when the moment is right, for one day you will have what you want most in the world. If the moment comes, you will know what it is. I wish I could give you more but please do not forget, the gift is for one day only. My eternal thanks are with you and bear in mind that there is always redemption. Even for the damned. _

_Regards, _

_Emily Bennett_

He'd done as she'd instructed but nothing had happened and as the years went by, he forgot about Emily's supposed 'gift'. It took him a decade or two but eventually he learned to give in to what he was and enjoy it. Damon spent years happily seducing, feeding and killing his way through every town and city he passed through. His brother, Stefan, after a stint as the ripper of Monterey and realizing his complete inability to control his bloodlust, had decided to switch to the bunny diet. Their paths crossed once or twice over the eras and while he had momentary lapses in sanity when he decided to seek Stefan out to spend time with him on purpose, they mostly led completely separate lives. At the moment Damon was having one of those lapses in sanity and he was headed back to his hometown to see his brother. He'd heard Stefan was in Mystic Falls and he decided it was time for a visit. The rest of the world was fascinating but if he was honest with himself, when he was lonely he sought out home and his brother. It had been nearly ten years since he'd last been to Virginia and the familiar dark pavement before him made him smile. He saw her figure in the road long before the headlights of his Camaro hit her. _Fast Food _he thought and pulled up beside her.

He rolled down his window and almost choked at the sight of the doe eyed girl.

"Katherine?"

She looked around and then back at him, her expression confused.

"No, I'm Elena"

He put the car in park and got out to look at her. It was impossible. The resemblance was uncanny but he could smell the human blood moving steadily through her veins.

"I'm sorry. You just really look like someone I used to know. I'm Damon" he told her and gave her a friendly smile.

"Are you ok? I saw you standing in the road"

"Oh yeah, I'm fine. I was at a party and I had a fight with my boyfriend. Well, ex-boyfriend now" she told him.

"He wasn't the one?"

"No, he wasn't the one" she said with a smile

"Why not? If you don't mind my asking"

"I don't know. There was just something…missing."

"Let me guess, it wasn't that all-consuming passionate love, the kind of love that's adventurous, wild, and even a little dangerous?" he asked her seriously.

She looked surprised

"Yeah, something like that"

He nodded and smiled. Maybe he wasn't going to have her for a midnight snack. She was interesting and her face was one he'd longed to see for more than a century.

"Well Elena, I hope you get you want"

"So what is it that _you _want, Damon?"

"That's a good question. I'll keep you posted. I'm not going to offer you a ride home. You seem too smart for that. But I hope I see you again."

"You're right I am too smart for that. My parents are on their way to come pick me up anyway. But I hope I see you again too, Damon"

**I**t had been months and the man she'd met the night her parents died had never left her mind. Even through the crippling sorrow, her mind sometimes wandered to the blue eyed stranger who seemed to know exactly what she'd been thinking that night. She looked for him everywhere she went in town but she'd yet to see him. School was starting in a couple of days and she was still hoping he would pop up somewhere. She walked into the grill and swung around to look for Bonnie before crashing into a hard male chest.

"Oh!" she cried and spun around to see who she'd hit.

When she looked up, she saw a pair of warm forest green eyes and gorgeous hair that looked like it had been meticulously sculpted. She felt the strange urge to mess it up and see if he would get angry.

"Hi" he said down at her.

"Uh, hi. I'm so sorry. I wasn't even paying attention" she said with an apologetic smile.

"It's no problem" he told her and smiled.

"I'm Elena"

"I'm Stefan"

"Are you new in town? I don't think I've seen you before"

"I was born here but I moved away a long time ago" he explained.

"Well, welcome home" she said and batted her eyelashes at him.

"Thank you"

She was supposed to be meeting Bonnie but she didn't see her in the dining room yet and she decided to take a chance. She'd promised herself she would try to put herself out there, be happy, and this seemed like a great opportunity.

"It looks like my friend is late. Do you want to sit with me for a few minutes?" she asked.

He looked pleasantly surprised

"Yeah, sure. I mean, you wouldn't want to look weird sitting by yourself right?"

"Definitely not" Elena replied happily.

They took a table in the center of the dining room and ordered coffee. She quickly discovered he was a Salvatore staying with his uncle Zach in the Salvatore boarding house. He was going to finish high school at Mystic Falls high in the coming year. After a few minutes they discovered their mutual love of classic novels and rock music. Bonnie turned out to be a half an hour late and seemed thrilled to find her friend talking to a cute guy.

"Bonnie, this is Stefan Salvatore. Stefan, this is Bonnie Bennett"

"It's nice to meet you, Stefan."

"It's nice to meet you too, Bonnie"

"Elena, we can totally reschedule" Bonnie offered.

"No. We have to talk decade dance or Caroline will murder us"

"Right" she said and sat down at one of the empty chairs.

"Well I guess I should be going" Stefan said, sounding less than happy about it.

"I'll see you later?" Elena asked.

"Definitely" he promised.

**D**amon had watched the entire encounter from across the street with an inexplicable sense of jealousy and anger. He'd been too late to help her when the car went over the bridge that night but Stefan had appeared from nowhere to dive in and save her. Obviously he knew about the girl and now he had officially introduced himself to her. Damon had kept his distance. At first he'd wanted to be sure she wasn't Katherine somehow masquerading as a teenage girl. It didn't take him long to determine that the only thing this girl had in common with Katherine was her face. It irked him that he couldn't get her out of his head so he drove down to Virginia Beach for a few weeks but something drew him back and he'd taken to observing her from afar. He'd been waiting for the right opportunity to 'run into' her but the moment hadn't presented itself. Or at least that's what he'd been telling himself. Now it seemed that Stefan might be forcing his hand. No way was he going to let his baby brother get to her first. After the Bennett witch left, he'd watched her fight with herself for ten minutes in the parking lot before he heard her mumble "just go see him, Elena" to herself. She'd jumped in her car and he'd zipped his way back to the boarding house to greet her. He arrived two minutes before her car pulled into the driveway and he stood in the parlor expectantly. Stefan had yet to make it home and he was glad to have a chance to talk to her alone.

He answered the door moments after she rang the bell and heard her tiny gasp when she saw him.

"Damon" she almost whispered it.

"Hello, Elena" he said with a lopsided grin.

"I…I was looking for Stefan…but I'm glad to see you"

"Stefan is my brother. Would you like to come in?" he stood back and held his arm out to welcome her inside.

She stepped into the foyer and looked around

"Nice place" she commented.

"It's a little kitsch-y for my taste, but its home"

"So Stefan is your brother?" she asked quizzically

"Yep"

"That would make you a Salvatore, too?" she asked.

"It would indeed" he told her "and I hear you're a Gilbert"

"I am" she said and gave him an odd little smile.

"What?" he asked her coyly.

"I was afraid I was never going to see you again" she confessed.

Damon smiled at her and found himself even more intrigued by the girl with the warm brown eyes. There was a noise in the driveway and he frowned. He heard his brother attempt a stealthy entrance through the front door, probably having seen the Camaro in front of the house.

"Hello, Stefan" he called.

"Damon, what are you doing here?" Stefan eyed Elena warily as he walked into the living room.

"Last I checked this was _our_ house. Elena stopped by to see you"

The girl lifted her hand and waved at Stefan awkwardly.

"Hi" she said hopefully

"Hello, Elena. Why don't you let me show you out?" Stefan said in a tight voice.

"Oh. Um, ok" she said sadly as he ushered her out the door

"Bye, Damon"

"Goodbye, Elena"

He was officially enchanted. She was afraid she would never see him again? That meant she had been hoping he would make an appearance. Maybe when he'd seen her checking faces in a crowd, she'd been looking for him.

"What are you doing here?" Stefan asked when he had Elena safely in her car.

"I missed home" Damon said and poured himself a drink.

"Bullshit"

"Swear on our mother's good name. I got bored out on the road alone, Stef. You know how I am."

"Look, about Elena…"

"I saw her that night, before you saved her. I have to say I'm glad you got there in time. She's definitely not Katherine but she's…she's something"

"Stay away from her" Stefan growled.

"Why should I?" he asked, annoyed that his brother thought he could order him around.

"Because she's…special."

"Special how?" he asked, skeptically.

"I don't know but her face should be enough to tell you she's no ordinary girl"

"You're right about that. She's definitely not ordinary" he smiled as he said it, imagining the sweet open face he couldn't seem to stop thinking about.

"You can't just show up and start feeding on the townspeople. They haven't had a vampire problem in a while but the Founding Families still have their meetings"

He narrowed his eyes at his brother and finally understood. Stefan was trying to talk him into leaving because he wanted the girl for himself. _Not a chance _he thought.

"Don't worry about it. There's a fridge full of blood bags in the basement and if I'm in the mood for the fresh stuff, I'll go two towns over."

Stefan looked unhappy.

"I don't want you around Elena"

"Well that is just too damn bad, little brother" he said and stalked out the front door.

Damon spent the rest of the afternoon driving around and blowing off steam. He disliked being told what to do and Stefan's pathetic attempt to get him out of town had pissed him off. The sun had just set when he realized he was almost out of gas and headed back toward town to fill up. He was on the outskirts of Mystic Falls when he saw the whole thing happen from two miles away. A man in a black hoodie was standing in the middle of the road and the SUV that was going just a hair too fast didn't see him in time. The car hit the guy, swerved, and rolled off to the side of the road, landing on its roof. The guy got up, his limbs falling awkwardly back into place and he heard a shriek come from the SUV as the man in the hoodie advanced on the car. It was the oldest trick in the book and he knew the man was a vampire looking to snatch a quick meal off the road. He also recognized the car that had rolled off the road. It was Elena's. Slamming down on the accelerator, he skidded to a stop several feet beyond where she'd wrecked and sped out of his door. The other vampire saw him and zipped away before Damon could catch him. He made sure the guy was gone before flashing to the overturned SUV.

"Hey" he said crouching down to peer at her through the window.

She gave a tiny scream before she saw it was him.

"Damon! Thank god. I don't know what happened. I hit someone but he just got up and it looked like…" she paused and a panicked expression came over her face.

"Calm down, you're ok. I'm going to get you out of here. Can you move?"

She tried the seatbelt but nothing happened.

"No, I think I'm stuck"

"Put your hands on the roof and brace yourself"

Gingerly, she put her arms over her head and placed her palms flat on the roof. He reached inside the car and yanked down hard on the seatbelt. With a yelp, she started to fall but he put his arm under her and pulled her gently out of the car. He set her on her feet but held her up in case she wasn't steady.

"Can you stand?" he asked.

"I look just like her…" she mumbled and collapsed in his arms.

"Elena? Hey, can you hear me?" he tried to shake her awake but she just murmured incoherently and passed out.

Puzzled, he lifted her into his arms and carried her back to his car. After dragging her SUV out of the street, he took her back to the boarding house. He didn't want to show up on her doorstep with her unconscious and since nothing was broken or bleeding, he didn't see the need to take her to a hospital. Setting her carefully on the couch, he went in search of Stefan but didn't find him. He did however, find an old photo of Katherine sitting on the kitchen counter. Suddenly her comment made perfect sense. Clearly, she'd come back to the house looking for either him or Stefan and found the photo lying around. Stefan had probably dug it out and forgotten to stash it back in his room. _Pretty careless, Stef _he thought and put the photo in his pocket. He heard Elena stirring in the living room and went to check on her. She was trying to sit up and he rushed to the couch.

"Easy there. Nothing's broken but you hit your head pretty badly" he told her.

"Where's my car? What am I doing here?" she sat up very slowly and looked around.

"I moved your car and I brought you here because I couldn't think of anywhere else to take you."

"Uh, my house?" she said dubiously.

"I don't know where you live" he lied.

"Oh. Right" she said and placed her palm on her forehead.

"Does your head hurt?" he asked.

"Yeah, a little" she said wearily.

"Do you want some aspirin? Maybe a glass of water?"

She nodded and he left to retrieve them. He handed them to her and she swallowed the pills gratefully.

"I came back here this evening to see if you were home and Stefan let me in. He was going to take me to dinner. I was just going to get some water and I saw the picture on the counter. Do you know who that woman is? Katherine?"

He eyed her carefully,

"Yes, I know who she is"

"How does she have my face? That photo says 1864 on it. How is that possible?"

"I'm honestly not sure" he told her.

"That's who you thought I was the night I met you on the road. You called me Katherine."

"Yes, I did"

"Why would you think I was her? She must've died a long time ago if that picture is from 1864. How would you even know her?"

He said nothing and debated the pros and cons of telling her the truth.

"Damon?" she prodded.

"This…is a delicate subject and I'm not quite sure you're ready for it"

"I can handle it" she said confidently

He chuckled and stared into her eyes.

"You came by this afternoon and no one was here" he started to compel her.

"What are you talking about? Stefan was here"

_Fucking vervain _he thought.

"Ah…never mind. So you think you can handle it, huh?"

"Absolutely"

_Well if worse comes to worst and she completely freaks out, I'll just have to lock her in the basement until the vervain is gone _he thought.

"Have you ever heard the legends about this town?" he asked her.

"You mean about the vampires?" she said with a half laugh.

"I take it you're not a believer?"

"Vampires in Mystic Falls? I mean, come on. This is Mystic Falls. Nothing interesting ever happens here"

"I'd like to show you something but you have to remember that you said you could handle it. You can't freak out on me"

"Okay…." she said, looking nervous.

He went to Stefan's room and dug around for a few minutes before he found what he wanted. Returning to the living room with both a photo of him and Stefan from before they'd turned and a register of townspeople from 1864, he sat back down next to her. First he handed her the photo, then the book. He turned to the _S _page and pushed it around so she could see where he was pointing. Elena looked at the photo and then up at him and then down at the page he'd opened for her. Three lines down were two names:

_Damon Salvatore_

_Stefan Salvatore _

Her eyes were wide and confused.

"I don't understand" she said.

"What would you say is the coolest thing about vampires?" he knew if he gave her all the pieces, she would put it together on her own.

"They live forever and never grow old?" she asked.

"Uh-huh…" he gave her a long look and waited for it to click.

"No…that's…that's not possible" she kept looking at the photo and then back up at him

"This is a joke right? You guys are just like, reenactment enthusiasts or something"


	2. Chapter 2 - Brave Little Thing

**Omg wow! The response to the first chapter has been amazing! Giant bear hugs to all the marvelous readers who have taken the time to review, follow, and/or fav! You guys made my whole week! And thank you to readers who can't or don't have time to click the buttons – you're awesome, too **

**I have quite a few chapters done on this one so updates should come quickly. I really hope you like this chapter as much as you liked the last one! **

**xoxo**

**Chapter 2 **

He gave her a thin smile and let his vampire face take over; the veins popping up to dance under his skin and blood rushing to the whites of his eyes, turning them the eerie shade of red. She let out an audible gasp but she didn't scream. Instead, to his complete shock, she reached out with one hand and lightly brushed her thumb over his cheek. Damon let her feel the blood moving wildly through the veins there before gently grabbing her wrist and pulling her hand down. _Brave little thing, aren't you? _He thought to himself. Any normal teenager would have been petrified but since Elena was clearly not your average teenager, he decided to rip off the proverbial Band-Aid.

"I'm going to show you my fangs but I'm not going to hurt you, ok?"

She nodded slowly and he lifted his upper lip to show her the razor sharp incisors that had pushed through his gums.

"Oh my god" she whispered and realization washed over her face "the man in the road, he was a vampire too, wasn't he?"

"Yes he was"

"You saved me…thank you" she said bewildered.

"My pleasure" he told her with a grin and let his face return to normal.

"But you can't tell anyone about us" he added.

"I won't tell a soul. Who would believe me?"

"In this town, probably more people than you think"

"I have so many questions but my head is still throbbing"

"We'll just take it one step at a time, ok? For the time being, you need to know that vampires are dangerous and knowing about them is even more dangerous. You absolutely have to keep this to yourself"

"I will" she promised and then gave him a pointed look.

"Are you dangerous?" she asked him.

"To you? No. But as far as vampires go, they don't get much more dangerous than me"

Elena looked at him cautiously.

"Will you take me home? This has been a really freaky night and I think I want to go to sleep"

"Sure" he said and stood up.

She tried to get up but she wavered on her feet and he quickly caught her under her arm.

"Still feeling dizzy?" he asked.

"Yeah but I'm ok."

"Let me help you" he said and put an arm around her waist.

She let him help her to the car and almost as soon as they were on the road, she seemed to remember that she hadn't gotten the answer to her initial question.

"I still don't understand about Katherine. Why do I look like her?"

"I really don't know about the looks thing. It's definitely strange. Katherine was the vampire that turned Stefan and I in 1864"

"Is she dead?"

"I don't know that either. A witch told me that she's trapped in a tomb under the old church by a spell. The witch was going to help me get her out but she died before she could undo the spell that's keeping Katherine in there"

"A witch?" she asked skeptically

"Yep"

"Like magic wands and spells?"

"I've never seen any wands but yeah, they cast spells"

"And how was this witch going to help you?"

"Something about a comet and a crystal. I don't really know but she had the crystal on her when she died and I looked but I never found it. Every other witch I've asked, and I've asked _a lot_ of them, says that without it they can't break the spell"

"You loved Katherine" Elena stated simply.

"Yes, I did. Very much"

"I'm sorry"

"For what?"

"You lost someone you love. I know how that feels"

"I heard about your parents" he told her.

She nodded and looked out the window without saying anything.

"So if you're a vampire…what do you…how do you…?" she fumbled for words.

"What do I eat and how am I alive?" he finished for her.

"Yeah…" she said tentatively

"I need blood to survive and I don't have a pulse but otherwise, my body functions pretty much the same way yours does"

"Where do you get blood?"

He gave her a meaningful look.

"People…and blood bags. I've killed people, Elena, and the list of victims is far from short. If you're looking for the PG version of a vampire, Stefan is your guy. These days he only feeds on bunny rabbits and deer. I'm not quite so…tame. Although, I haven't killed anyone since I met you" he said the last part under his breath, only just realizing it himself.

"This is probably a really stupid question, but why haven't you tried to…you know, bite me?" she asked and he saw her swallow thickly.

"I like you, Elena" he said softly and looked over at her.

"Because I look like her?" she asked self-consciously

"No, I like _you. _I'll admit your face is what caught my interest but you're nothing like Katherine."

"No? What was she like?"

"Striking, seductive, selfish. Cruel at times"

"Sounds like a nice girl" she said sarcastically

He laughed.

"She was complicated and it made her incredibly hard to resist"

"Are you still in love with her?"

The questions gave him pause and he thought for a moment. He'd loved her for so long the answer was almost automatic but when he tried to imagine seeing her again, it didn't hold the same thrill as it once did. In fact, it didn't hold any thrill at all. A century and a half ago he would have killed and died for Katherine Pierce but thinking about her right now, he felt almost nothing.

"You know, I don't think I am."

They'd pulled up in front of her house and Elena looked over at him.

"I'll keep your secret but I'd like it if you'd stay away from me for a little while. Stefan too, if you wouldn't mind letting him know. I just need some time to process and figure out how I feel about…all this."

His heart sank but what she was asking was only fair.

"Ok. Take all the time you need."

"I like you too, Damon. I like you a lot" she said before she hopped out of the car and made for the front door.

The comment had him smiling all the way home. Stefan was going to be pissed that he'd outted them to Elena but she'd handled it really well. He had no doubt that she would keep it to herself and he'd do his best to keep his distance while she sorted it all out in her head. When he walked in the front door of the boarding house, his mood instantly darkened.

"Where is she?" Stefan demanded angrily and slammed him against the far wall.

Damon shoved him back easily and pushed past his brother.

"I assume you're talking about Elena" he said and went to pour himself a glass of bourbon "she's at home, safe and sound"

"What the hell happened? One minute I was getting my coat to take her to dinner and the next I hear her car screeching out of here like the place was on fire."

"You left the picture of Katherine on the kitchen counter. She he saw it when she went to get some water. Well done, by the way" he said and tipped his glass in a mock cheers.

"Oh my God…I pulled it out of an old journal and completely forgot it was there. What did you tell her?"

"Well after she crashed her car and was almost some other vampire's dinner, I tried to compel her into forgetting the whole thing. But since she's apparently on vervain, I had to tell her the truth"

"You…you did what?"

His brother looked completely stunned and he very nearly laughed but he stuffed it down and put on his serious face.

"I told her the truth about us. She handled it fantastically. No screaming or freaking out. She did ask that we give her some time to process though. So leave her alone for a while, ok?"

"Are you out of your mind? What if she tells someone?"

"She won't."

"How do you know? Did you compel her?"

"No. I just told you she's on vervain. I trust her."

"But you don't trust _anyone. _You don't even trust me!"

"I know. Weird, isn't it?" he was playing it nonchalant but it really was weird.

There was just something about her. Damon knew she wouldn't betray him.

"Who _are _you and what've you done with my brother?" Stefan asked.

Damon gave him an amused smirk.

"What can I say? You were right. She is special"

"I hope you're right about her" his brother warned and walked out of the room with a bemused smile on his face.

A week went by and he didn't hear from her. Then two weeks. Then three. He was starting to get antsy and he was on the verge of breaking his promise when the doorbell rang late one afternoon. Since he wasn't expecting anyone, he stood silently near the door and listened for a moment.

"_Please be home" _

It was barely a murmur but he heard it. It was her voice. After weeks of waiting, she was on the other side of his door. He resisted the urge to wrench the door open and demand to know what had taken her so long. Instead, he put on his cool mask of indifference and opened the door.

"Hi!" she said, her perky voice accompanied by a hopeful smile.

"Really, Elena? It's been almost a month and I get 'hi'?" he asked sardonically

Her face fell.

"I know I'm sorry. Can I come in?"

Damon said nothing but stood back and gestured for her to come inside. He vowed to himself that he wasn't going to cave into her just because she batted her pretty brown eyes at him. Elena stood awkwardly in his living room and twisted her hands together nervously. She stared at him and chewed her lip for a moment before finally speaking.

"I can't stop thinking about you" she blurted out.

He raised his eyebrows at her but still said nothing. Clearly she had something she wanted to get off her chest and he was inclined to let her.

"I'm more than a little disturbed by the fact that you openly admit to having killed people and that you drink human blood but I can't stop thinking about you. It's been driving me crazy for weeks and today my friend Bonnie told me that I need to either deal with whatever has been eating at me or get over it. And since 'getting over it' clearly isn't working, here I am and now I have no idea what to say to you"

"That was a pretty good start" he told her and smirked.

"Is that all you're going to say?" she asked, sounding exasperated.

"I can't stop thinking about you either" he said and flashed across the room to stand directly in front of her.

"Really?" she seemed relieved.

He reached out and brushed his knuckles over the smooth skin on her cheek.

"You're all I think about, Elena."

She took a shaky breath and looked up at him.

"Then I think you should take me on a date"

"A date?" he asked and a grin spread across his face.

"You know, dinner and a movie or something?"

"Sure, I could do that. When?"

"Tomorrow? Pick me up at 7?"

"It's a date" he said and tried not to smile like an idiot. _What is this girl doing to you?_

They exchanged numbers then stood there staring at each other for another minute.

"Ok, well I guess I'm going to go then" she said

"Ok" he said and walked her to the door reluctantly.

"Bye" she said over her shoulder

"See you tomorrow" he told her "and Elena?"

She turned around to face him.

"Yeah?"

"Wear something nice"

**E**very bone in her body was alive with excitement as she drove back to her house. He'd been on her mind every day since he'd dropped her off and knocking on his door today had been the most nerve-wracking thing she'd ever done. Elena knew she'd waited too long in the middle of the second week and then she'd chickened out until Bonnie had yelled at her this afternoon. Now she was going on a date with him and she was mentally checking off items in her closet as not good enough. _How is a girl supposed to choose an outfit for a date with a vampire?_ she thought manically and giggled to stomach leaped into her throat when she saw Stefan sitting on her porch as she pulled up to her house. She _really _didn't want to talk to him but it would appear she didn't have a choice. It wasn't that she disliked him but she got the impression that he wasn't happy about her knowing his secret.

"Hey" she said as she approached him.

"Long time no-talk" he said.

"Yeah I know…I just needed to process" she'd seen him around school but he'd kept his distance.

"Sure, that's totally understandable. Damon just told me about your date" he told her and stood up.

"Oh" she didn't know what to say.

"Look Elena, I'm not going to tell you what to do but you need to know that Damon can be dangerous. He's very…volatile and he doesn't deal well with being hurt"

She furrowed her brow.

"I think I know what I'm getting myself into"

"I really don't think you do" Stefan told her

"Well I appreciate your concern and I promise to be careful" she said in what she hoped was a reassuring voice.

He sighed and nodded.

"I'll see you later, Elena"

"Bye, Stefan" she said and went up the steps to the front door.

Elena barely slept that night. She'd spent three hours tearing her closet apart and putting it back together but she _still _didn't have an outfit she thought was good enough. Finally she gave in and called Caroline to come over to help her tomorrow afternoon. Caroline had been thrilled and Elena smiled thinking back to the conversation.

"_You have a date?!" she screeched_

"_Yes, Caroline. I have a date" she said, mildly annoyed at her friends surprise. _

"_With who?!" she demanded gleefully. _

"_No one you know. It's Stefan Salvatore's brother, Damon." _

"_Isn't he Stefan's _older _brother?" she asked with a scandalous smile that Elena could almost see through the phone. _

"_Yeah, so?" _

"_Nothing, I'm just surprised that's all. I'll be there at three with plenty of options"_

"_Thanks, Care" _

"_You're welcome. See you tomorrow!" _

After that, the bubble of nerves and excitement in her stomach wouldn't go away. Part of her knew she should be scared but she wasn't. No matter what he'd told her or what Stefan had told her, she wasn't afraid of him. When she finally fell asleep, she dreamed about him. He was the first thing she thought of when she woke up the next day and school was all but impossible. She'd completely spaced out during history class and she felt guilty for not listening to her favorite history teacher.

"Elena?" Mr. Saltzman asked.

"What?" her head snapped up, her eyes suddenly alert.

"Do you know the answer to the question?"

She stared at him shamefaced.

"Which question?"

He shook his head at her in disappointment.

"Does anyone know what year Mystic Falls was founded?"

Caroline's hand shot up and she answered before Mr. Saltzman called on her. Elena smiled at him apologetically and tried to pay attention to what he was saying for the rest of the hour. When the bell rang at 2:30 she bolted from her seat and raced to her house to beat Caroline. She wanted to have a few minutes alone to just breathe. She got five minutes before the doorbell rang and her peppy blonde friend was at the door with an armful of dresses.

"Makeover time!" Caroline cried.

"I don't want to go too crazy…" Elena said worriedly

"You have a date with a hot older guy who told you to wear something nice. You have to look amazing"

"I trust you, Caroline" she said more as a warning than a compliment.

"And I promise you're going to look gorgeous" her friend assured her as she shoved her up the stairs to Elena's room.

It took all afternoon to settle on a lacy little black dress and matching black heels. It was the fourth little black dress she'd tried on before she lied and said she liked it best. Truthfully, they all looked pretty much the same to her. Caroline seemed pleased with the choice and set about doing Elena's makeup. It took another hour and a half and Elena was started to get frantic.

"He's going to be here in twenty minutes"

"Relax. You're supposed to be a little late"

"I don't want to be late" she whined.

"Trust me he'll think it's worth the wait"

Caroline was putting the finishing touches on her hair when the doorbell rang.

"Almost done. Hold still…"

When Caroline finally freed her, she raced to the hanger and wiggled into the dress. Once she'd shoved her feet into the heels, she appraised her reflection in the full length mirror. She had to admit, Caroline had done a fantastic job. Her makeup was more than she normally wore but still tasteful, the dress was perfect for her figure, and her hair was neatly curled and pinned.

"Wow, thanks Care" she said and smiled.

"Anytime. Now wait here while I answer the door. I want to meet the mystery man" her friend said and wiggled her eyebrows.

Elena took a deep breath and smoothed out her dress as she listened to Caroline answer the door. She envisioned her friend's eyes popping out of her head at the sight of Damon and smiled.

"_Oh wow…Um…I mean, come in. I'm Caroline. Elena will be down in just a second" _

"_It's nice to meet you, Caroline. I'm Damon" _

"_It's nice to meet you, too" _

She took that as her cue and started down the stairs. When she saw him at the bottom she almost tripped. He was beaming up at her in an impeccably tailored suit and he was holding a single, perfect red rose. She managed to get the bottom of the stairs without humiliating herself and smiled back at him.

"Hey" she said breathlessly

"Hey yourself" he said and held the rose out to her.

She accepted it and buried her nose in the petals.

"It's beautiful, thank you"

"You look stunning" he told her as his icy blue gaze danced over her figure.

"You clean up pretty nicely yourself" she commented.

He smirked at her and plucked her coat from the hanger by the door.

"Ready?" he asked, holding the jacket up.

She slid her arms into the sleeves and turned back to him.

"Ready"

He looped her hand through his arm and walked her out the door. She peeked over her shoulder at Caroline who was standing at the door slack jawed. _Oh my god _her friend mouthed to her. She smiled enthusiastically before facing forward again. Just as they were almost to the sidewalk, Jenna pulled up.

"Crap" she muttered

"Who is that?" he asked

"My aunt"

"I take it you didn't tell her about our date?" he asked, sounding wounded.

"No…but only because she would have made a huge deal out of it and embarrassed me…like she's going to do now"

"Looks like you'll have to introduce me" he told her as Jenna got out of her car and approached them.

"Hey, Elena" she said as her eyes fell on Damon "I'm Elena's aunt Jenna. And you are…?"

Damon let go of Elena and held out his hand.

"Damon Salvatore"

"Any relation to Zach Salvatore?" she asked as she shook his hand.

"He's my uncle" Damon said smoothly.

She nodded.

"And where are you two going all dressed up?"

"It's a surprise but…" he let go of Elena and leaned forward to whisper in Jenna's ear.

"Oh she'll like that" she told Damon with a smile "you kids have fun"

Jenna winked at her and headed into the house.

**S**tifling the chuckle that bubbled up when he saw Elena's astonished expression, he held his arm out to her.

"Shall we?" he asked.

She hooked her arm through his and waved at her aunt with her free hand.

"How did you do that?" she asked when they got in his car.

"Do what?"

"Get away from my aunt without her giving you the third degree"

"I can be fairly charming when I want to be" he told her with a smile.

"I see that" she said.

"Zach Salvatore isn't really your uncle is he?" she asked.

"No. I could more accurately be called _his_ uncle"

"Did you and Stefan have another brother?"

"Technically yes. He's related to the offspring of the woman my father chose to cheat on my mother with."

"That must make for interesting Thanksgiving dinners"

Now he did laugh.

"If we had Thanksgiving dinners, he would probably end up the main course"

She looked shocked for a moment then suddenly laughed, too.

"That really shouldn't be funny"

"You just have a good sense of humor" he told her.

"You wouldn't really kill Zach though, would you?"

He looked at her seriously for a moment and pulled over to the side of the road. This was the make or break moment.

"Elena, I want you to know me. All of me. And the vampire is part of who I am. Do I have any plans to kill Zach? No. But I'm an impulsive, selfish, and fiercely possessive creature. If he tried to hurt you, for example, I would snap his neck with zero hesitation, zero remorse. I don't want to make promises I can't keep"

She appeared to think for a moment.

"But you wouldn't kill him just to kill him, right?"

"No, I wouldn't kill him just for fun"

"Do you think killing is fun?" she asked and her voice wavered.

It was a difficult question to answer but he tried to be as honest as he could.

"Part of me does, yes. If I turn off the human side of me and let the vampire take over, I love it"

"Can you do that? Just turn it off?"

"Yep. It's like a switch you flip when the guilt gets to be too much"

"But you have it on right now?"

"Humanity switch is in the full 'On' position" he assured her.

"Why would you ever turn it off?" she asked.

"I was very angry at Stefan for a long time. After I turned, I blamed him for talking me into becoming a vampire and I blamed him for losing Katherine. It was easier to turn it off and give in to the hate"

"How long did you have it turned off?"

"It's been off and on over the decades but up until the night I saw you, it'd been off for almost twenty years."

"You turned it back on because of me?"

"I didn't do it on purpose but it started to make an appearance the minute I realized I couldn't kill you"

He watched for her reaction but her face was unreadable.

"What do you think? Do you want me to take you home and never speak to you again?"

**A/N: She's made it this far but do we think Elena can handle the truth? I can't wait to hear what all you lovely readers think so pretty please review if you can! Until next time…**


	3. Chapter 3 - Falling

**This seems an appropriate time to put this chapter up since tomorrow is Valentine's Day and this is an incredibly fluffy chapter. As always, I thrive on your thoughts and opinions! (****stordec23,** **you called it!****)**

**xoxo**

**Chapter 3 – Falling **

"No!" she said urgently "Maybe I'm crazy and maybe I'm making a huge mistake but I really want to know you, and I would never forgive myself if I walked away from the chance"

"You're not going to bail?" he asked, amazed.

"I've thought a lot about what it could mean to date someone like you and I knew this was part of it. I like this side of you and I think this is who you really are."

"And who is that?" he asked her, curious what she thought about him.

"Smart, funny, brave, loyal…charming"

Her words made him smile and he was so preoccupied by them he almost missed the turn for their destination twenty minutes later. He corrected quickly and pulled up to the valet a few minutes later.

"Where are we?" she asked and looked out the window.

Damon said nothing and waited for her to see the sign.

"The ballet!" she cried, joyfully "I love the ballet! My dad used to take me and I haven't been in years!"

"You like it?" he asked.

"Damon, I love it. This is amazing. What are we seeing?"

"Gisele"

She gasped and smiled

"That's my favorite!"

He was elated at her reaction. It had been a long, long time since he'd planned an actual date and seeing her so excited was exactly what he'd needed. He'd seen Gisele a hundred times but watching her delighted face as the dancers moved gracefully across the stage was better than watching Margot Fonteyn from the front row. On their way out of the theater, he caught her shooting him little smiles every few steps.

"What are you grinning at?" he demanded

"I don't know. You're like a scary vampire but you just took me on a date to the ballet and it's sort of weird and amazing. I had so much fun tonight, Damon"

"I'm glad but the night is young, Elena. It's Friday night. How about a drink?"

"I can't get into bars" she said glumly.

"You can when you're with me" he told her and winked.

"Ok then. A drink sounds good" she sounded a little nervous.

"Just one. I can't deliver you back to your aunt drunk" he said and held the car door open for her.

She looked comforted by that and ducked into the front seat. He rounded the car and slid behind the wheel.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"I know a little place. We're slightly overdressed but they won't mind"

He drove them to a bar he knew nearby and directed them to two stools. The place was busy but the bartender got to them quickly.

"What can I get you?" the pretty blonde asked him.

"Bourbon, straight"

"And a soda for you miss?" she said to Elena

"Actually she'll have a glass of wine" he told the waitress

She looked over at him and smiled gently.

"I have to see her ID"

He smiled back and held her gaze "No you don't"

"No I don't" she repeated and looked back at Elena "What kind of wine would you like?"

"Oh…uh…white…a Riesling" Elena said.

The waitress smiled at both of them "I'll be right back with those"

"Ok I have to admit, that was kind of cool" she said with a mischievous sparkle in her eye.

"One of the many perks"

"What are some of the others?" she asked conversationally

"Speed, strength, hearing, and sight are all enhanced. Mind control, as you just saw"

"You tried to do that to me, didn't you? When I found the picture?"

"Clever girl. Yes, I did"

"Why didn't it work?"

He looked down at her throat and noticed that she was wearing the same ornate silver oval locket she'd been wearing every time he'd seen her.

"Where'd you get your necklace?" he asked instead of answering.

She looked down at it "It was my mom's. She wore it all the time. It's got a picture of me and my little brother in it"

"Can I see it?"

For the first time that evening, she hesitated.

"Why?"

"I have a theory. I promise, I'll give it right back"

Reluctantly, she unclasped the chain and handed it to him. To his surprise, it didn't burn right away. When he opened the locket however, it was a different story. The moment his finger touched the tiny photo of Elena, it singed his skin. He flinched and returned the necklace to her.

"What was that?" she asked.

"Vervain. It's an herb and it burns our skin as well as rendering our compulsion useless. Your photos are laced with it"

"Should I take it off?" she asked "I don't want to hurt you"

"No, actually I think you should leave that necklace on all the time. My advice would be to never take it off"

She put the necklace back on and nodded

"Ok, I won't."

The waitress returned with their drinks and they sat at the bar sipping them for an hour. He told her about his travels and she told him about her dream of being a writer.

"My dad wanted me to be a doctor like him and that kind of fits for me, too. I guess I haven't totally decided" she told him with the last sip of her wine.

"How much longer do you have?" he asked, though he already knew the answer.

He just liked the sound of her voice.

"I just stared my senior year"

"Off to college next year then, huh?"

"That's the goal" she said with a laugh.

He smiled intimately and drank in her face. It was Katherine's face, even her voice, but comparing them was like comparing a wolf and a swan. They were completely different and he found he was glad. He liked this kind, fearless girl with the warm eyes and open smile.

"Stop it" she said, blushing prettily.

"Stop what?"

"Looking at me with that…eye thing you do"

He gave her his best bedroom eyes and murmured "What eye thing?"

Elena smiled and her cheeks flushed again.

"I should probably get you home" he told her.

She looked at her cell phone and her shoulders sagged "Yeah, you should"

On the way back to her house, they chatted more about life in Mystic Falls and the joys of being a member of a Founding Family.

"I was at the first Founders Day ball" he told her "they were boring then, too"

"That's so sad" she shook her head "an entire century of mind-numbing parties and no one has ever bothered to change anything"

"It's a pretty sorry state of affairs" he agreed with a chuckle.

"I was almost Miss Mystic falls but Caroline beat me out"

"The judges must've been on drugs" he told her.

She laughed.

"Caroline deserved it. She wanted it more and she's so involved in the community. I did it because my mom wanted me to"

"Familial duties are a bitch" he said, sympathizing.

"Did your parents force you to participate, too?"

"My mother died when Stefan and I were young but my father was on the council so we were expected to be model citizens"

"That's us, too. Jenna is trying to fill in for my parents but she left Mystic Falls so she wouldn't have to do all this stuff. I feel bad that she's stuck here because of us"

"I'm sure she doesn't feel that way" he told her and eyed her sympathetically.

Elena smiled thinly at him and gazed out the window. They were on her street and about to pull up to her house. As they stopped in front of her mailbox, she turned to face him.

"This was by far the best date I've ever been on, Damon. Thank you so much" she said earnestly.

"I'm glad you enjoyed yourself, Elena. Maybe you'd let me cook you dinner next week?"

"You cook, too?" she asked, sounding annoyed.

"Something wrong with that?" he asked, perplexed.

"No, I'm just beginning to wonder if there's anything you can't do"

"I've been around for a while" he told her slyly and got out of the car to open her door.

She climbed out of the car and looked at him curiously.

"What else are you good at?"

Several extremely inappropriate things ran through his head and very nearly came out of his mouth but they were definitely not the answers she was looking for.

Instead he leaned in close to her and whispered "I'm good at all kinds of things"

He saw her gulp and she took a half a step back.

"Can I walk you to the door?" he asked, his voice changing from seductive to cordial.

Elena only nodded. He held out his arm and she slipped her hand through it. They walked slowly to her front door and he looked down at her upturned face. There had been nothing more Damon wanted all evening than to kiss her but now that they were at the end of their date, something was telling him to hold out a little longer.

"I'm not going to kiss you" he breathed, his mouth inches from hers.

"Why not?" she asked and he was pleased to hear the disappointment in her voice.

"Because it's not the right time yet"

"Are you sure?" she asked plaintively and he smiled at her.

"Yep"

"Positive?"

"Positive" he confirmed.

"Alright" she said and looked down.

"I do want to kiss you, Elena. You have no idea how badly I want to kiss you right now."

"Then why don't you?"

"It's just a feeling I have"

She sighed but nodded "Then I'm going to go inside before _I _kiss _you_."

"Thursday? Same time as tonight at my place?"

"That sounds perfect"

"Goodnight, Elena"

"Goodnight, Damon"

Walking away from her was almost unbearable. She'd _wanted _him to kiss her and he told her no. Those perfect pouty lips had been his for the taking and he'd walked away. He wondered again what this girl was doing to him but he knew somehow he'd done the right thing.

**T**he next four days were the slowest of her entire life. He'd texted her a few times, just little things here and there.

_Is it Thursday yet? _One of them said and she'd smiled like an idiot for an hour.

_I wish_ she'd texted back.

She'd filled Caroline and Bonnie in on the date and had somehow escaped telling them about the no kissing part. Elena wasn't sure they'd understand but now Bonnie was now dying to meet Damon. Neither of them could believe a guy had not only taken her to the ballet but it had been his idea. Stefan had been watching her out of the corner of his eye all week. By third period on Thursday she'd made up her mind to talk to him. She found him in the library at lunch and took the seat next to him.

"Hey" she said casually

"Hey" he said back and looked back down at his book.

"So what's up?" she pressed.

"Not much. What's up with you?"

"I'm having dinner with Damon at your house tonight"

"I know" he said

"Right, of course. You live there"

"I sure do"

"Look Stefan, I know you don't approve of Damon and me but…"

"Elena, you can do whatever you want" he cut her off.

"Well you've been staring at me for three days so I just thought I'd tell you that I'm fine. Damon was a perfect gentleman the other night."

Stefan closed his book and looked at her with concern in his eyes.

"Did he say anything…strange to you?" he asked.

"You mean did he try to compel me?" she asked haughtily and saw the astonishment on his face.

"No, he didn't. He figured out that my locket has vervain in it and he told me I should never take it off"

"He did?" Stefan asked his voice laced with disbelief.

"Yes, he did. I get why you think so low of him. He told me a little bit about…what he's done. But I think he's trying to be better and I think it would be good for him if he had your support, Stefan"

His soft green eyes gazed into hers intently.

"I don't know what you've done to him but I will admit that I haven't seen him like this in almost 150 years. Just be careful. Don't hurt him, Elena. He won't take it well"

It was the second time he'd warned her about hurting Damon and she tried to take it seriously. She'd sensed something wild and unpredictable about him from the moment they met but no matter how many times she told herself he was dangerous, Elena couldn't bring herself to be scared of him.

"I told you, I promise I'll be careful"

Stefan gave her a tight smile and turned back to his book. Taking it as a signal to leave, she got up and started to walk away.

"Elena" he called after her.

She whirled back around to face him.

"I actually do approve. It's nice to see my brother smile"

His approval meant more than she thought it would and she smiled gratefully at him before leaving the library. The last period of the day dragged on forever but she'd finally made it home. Since she'd been thinking about what to wear for four days, she was ready a few minutes too early. She found Jenna drinking wine in the kitchen and sat down with her.

"Well hey there stranger" Jenna said.

"Hey, Jenna. How are you? I feel like I haven't seen you in days"

"I know. Between my thesis and your senior year…are you doing alright, you know with everything?" her aunts eyes were filled with worry.

"Yeah, I'm good. I miss them every day and I wish they were here but so far senior year is going really well"

"I'm glad to hear that. Your parents loved you so much, Elena. They would want you to be happy"

Tears welled in her eyes and she blinked furiously to fight them back.

"I know"

"I'm sorry. Let's talk about something else. How about the ridiculously hot guy who took you on a date the other night? How did that go?"

She perked up a little "I'm seeing him again tonight"

"I hate to be the nagging parent but I have to ask, how old is he?"

Elena froze and almost laughed. _Like a hundred and something _she thought to herself.

"Um, I think he's twenty-two"

"Twenty-two…wow" Jenna said and took another long sip of her wine.

"This is hard because a very big part of me wants to give you a high five and say 'you go girl' and the other part of me wants to lock you in your room until you're thirty"

Elena smiled sheepishly at her young aunt.

"I really like him, Jenna. He's complicated and intense but he's so…I don't know…Mesmerizing. I can't stop thinking about him"

Jenna looked at her compassionately "You've got it bad, don't you kid?"

"I think so" Elena confessed.

"From the look on his face the other night, I don't think you have to worry about unrequited affection but you watch out, ok? Intense and complicated can get very messy very fast."

"I will"

"So is he a good kisser?" Jenna asked and wriggled her eyebrows.

"I don't know" Elena replied dejectedly.

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"He didn't kiss me"

"Then why didn't you kiss him? You don't go on a date with a man like that and not kiss him"

Elena shrugged "He said it wasn't the right time"

"What does that mean?" Jenna asked sounding slightly upset "Who wouldn't want to kiss you?"

"I don't know!" she cried, glad to finally someone to share this with.

For some reason, she hadn't wanted to tell Bonnie and Caroline about the non-kiss.

"The date was perfect, he was perfect, and I didn't even embarrass myself once. I wanted to kiss him so much I thought I was going to die, but he's been so patient with me I couldn't argue with him when he said it wasn't time. So I said ok and it's been driving me crazy."

"I say if he doesn't kiss you tonight, you jump him" Jenna said.

She giggled "How much wine have you had?"

"Obviously too much if I'm telling you to kiss twenty-two year old hotties" Jenna replied.

Elena looked at the clock and realized she was going to be late if she didn't leave in the next minute or two.

"I'm going to head out. Don't wait up" she said and stood up to get her coat.

Jenna looked at her with grave eyes "You're growing up too fast"

"I'm eighteen, Jenna. I'm an adult"

"Legally yes. Mentally, no" Jenna told her with a grin "Go on, get out of here"

Elena shook her head and rushed out the door.

"Bye, Jenna!" she called behind her.

By the time she got to his porch and knocked, her heart was pounding in her ears. She'd been thinking about him non-stop and she was on edge at just the thought of seeing his face. When he opened the door she had the insane thought that he'd somehow gotten even more attractive. His midnight locks were tousled and the aqua pools of his eyes held a playful gleam when he greeted her. There was a dish towel tossed over his shoulder and a tiny spot of flour on his grey shirt. It was adorably sexy.

"Hey, come on in. Dinner is almost done"

She followed him into the kitchen and inhaled deeply.

"It smells amazing"

"I hope you like Italian" he told her.

"Love it" she replied honestly.

"Wine?" he asked and held up a bottle of red.

"Sure" she said and admired the cozy brick and wood kitchen

"Take a seat" he told her.

She sat at the large wooden table where she could watch him cook. He was throwing what looked like homemade pasta into boiling water and then in the blink of an eye he was stirring another pot.

"I bet the super speed makes cooking easy" she commented

"Yeah I guess it does" he said and zipped over to the fridge.

"That is so weird to watch. Have you ever seen yourself do that?"

He stopped and looked at her with an amused expression.

"I can't say that I have. I've seen other vampires do it and I guess it was a little weird at first"

She swirled the wine in her glass nervously and watched him move with inhuman speed around the kitchen.

"Are you ok?" he asked her in between flurries of movement.

"Just nerves" she said and smiled.

"Do I make you nervous?" he asked.

"Like I'm afraid you might hurt me, nervous? No, definitely not. Second date and we're alone in your house nervous? Yes."

"Would you rather we go out?"

"No! Whatever you're making smells heavenly and I've never let a little case of nerves stop me from doing something I want to do"

"Good" he replied, appearing thoroughly relieved.

"So…I have…an awkward question" she said nervously.

It had been on her mind since their last date and she felt like she had to ask.

"Alright, shoot"

"I mean…I'm assuming you can't since you don't have any but…um…can vampires have kids?"

"No, we can't. But that doesn't stop us from trying" he told her with a salacious grin.

"Oh" she said and blushed.

The only problem with their second date was that she couldn't decide if it was better than the first. It seemed equally as amazing and perfect. He served up huge plates of pasta with multiple sauce options and bowls filled with chicken, sausage, and ground beef.

"I didn't know what you liked so I made them all" he told her.

"I like everything" she replied and heaped a portion of each onto her plate.

"It's always nice to meet a woman who isn't afraid to eat" he said and filled his own dish.

"I like food" she said "and depriving yourself of good food is something I will never understand."

Conversation seemed to come easily with them. Elena felt like she could tell him anything. She talked to him about her parents, her little brother, her friends. He seemed equally comfortable with her as he explained the strange and sad circumstances of how he and Stefan had become vampires.

"He _shot _you?" she couldn't believe a father would shoot both his sons.

"Yep, without even blinking an eye"

"What an asshole" she said without thinking and instantly felt bad for saying it.

Her regret was short lived when Damon let out a bark of laughter.

"You're right he was an asshole"

"So how come you were so mad at Stefan? I know you feel like he talked you into becoming a vampire but you can kind of understand why, right? He must've been pretty desperate thinking about an eternity by himself"

"Now I can. At the time I swore I'd spend the rest of my days making him miserable. I've let a lot of the anger go and I get that he didn't want to be alone, it's just…." he shook his head and polished off the glass of wine in front of him.

"It's just what?" she asked softly and reached over to cover his hand with hers.

Damon gazed at her with imploring eyes and turned his hand over to lace their fingers.

"I've actually never said this out loud before. It won't change anything. It won't make me a better person or absolve me of the things I've done."

"You can tell me. You can tell me anything" she assured him "and sometimes it feels better to say it, even if it doesn't change anything"

"I never wanted to be this. I wanted a family, kids, and a home of my own. Instead, I get to be the thing that goes bump in the night. I like to pretend I don't remember, that I've been a vampire for too long, but I remember what it's like to be human and I miss it. I miss it more than anything in the world."


	4. Chapter 4 - Falling, Part II

**Thank you, thank you, **_**thank you**_** for all the love on this story so far! I really can't tell you how happy it makes me that you all like it. The next chapter will have a major twist at the end so bear with me through just a bit more fluff. Oh and if you're a super big fan of Tyler Lockwood, this might not be your favorite chapter. **

**(Fair warning – steamy adult content in the **_**next**_** chapter)**

**xoxo**

**Chapter 4 – Falling, Part II **

Her heart ached for him and she squeezed his hand in what she hoped was a comforting gesture. She couldn't think of anything to say so she just sat there and held his hand.

"Thank you, Elena" he said quietly

"For what?"

"Being here, listening to me, reminding me what it feels like to be human"

"I'll be here for as long as you want me to be" she told him sincerely.

It had occurred to her that his lifetime would be much longer than hers. She would grow old and wrinkly and he would still look like sex on legs. At the moment, she couldn't bring herself to care. Elena just wanted to enjoy the time she had with him, however long that was. After a minute or two of comfortable silence, he clasped her hand tightly and then released it.

"Did you save room for dessert" he asked.

"Oh god, there's dessert?"

"Tiramisu" he confirmed

"I'll find room" she said happily.

They ate almost all of the tiramisu and finished the bottle of wine over much lighter conversation. To her surprise, he asked to be her date to the decade dance after she mentioned she was on the decorating committee. She tried to tell him he didn't have to go but he'd insisted and she was too full of wine and good food to argue with him.

"I think you just put me in a food coma" she told him after her third helping of dessert.

"Is that a good thing?"

"Definitely. I haven't eaten that well in months."

"Good" he said, sounding pleased.

"But now I'm exhausted and I don't want to drive all the way back to my house"

"Do you want to lie down on the couch for a little while?" he offered.

"That sounds nice" she said sleepily.

**T**he fire was already going in the living room when he plopped down on the couch and pulled her down into his lap. They wriggled around until he was lying lengthwise on the couch and she was curled up between his legs with her head on his chest. It only took a few minutes for her to fall asleep and he wrapped his arms around her. He let her stay like that for a couple of hours and stared at her in awe. There was a certain amount of infamy that followed him in the vampire world. It was no secret that he could be cold, calculating, and vicious when he gave into the baser instincts of vampirism. In one of his more ruthless moments, he'd killed twelve people just to break up with a crazy girlfriend. How did a monster like that end up on a couch with an angel like this in his arms? And yet here she was; lightly snoring in his embrace, having yet to show even a hint of fear. To be fair he'd been trying very hard not to give her a reason to be afraid of him. Still though, who in their right mind wasn't afraid of a vampire? Especially a teenage girl who should have run screaming from him the moment he showed her his true face. Not this girl though, she was brave and fiery. When midnight rolled around and Elena still wasn't showing any signs of waking, he carried her gingerly to the car and drove her home. Apparently she was a heavy sleeper because she hardly stirred the entire ride home and was still dead to the world when he took her from the car to the front porch. He rang the doorbell and Jenna answered the door with a dubious look on her face.

"She fell asleep on my couch" he told her quickly.

Jenna stood back so he could bring Elena inside.

"Her bedroom is upstairs" Jenna told him quietly and he nodded.

She followed him up to Elena's room and watched from the doorway as he pulled her shoes off and tucked her under the covers. Damon brushed a lock of dark brown hair from her cheek and pressed a chaste kiss to her forehead.

"Nothing happened. She ate too much and passed out" he promised Jenna as they walked back down the stairs.

"That sounds about right for Elena" Jenna told him with a half-smile.

She paused at the bottom of the stairs and faced him.

"Elena said you're twenty-two?" she asked.

Damon braced himself for the 'you're too old' lecture.

"Yep"

"Do you want a drink? You look like a bourbon kind of guy and my brother-in-law always kept a good bottle around. Someone ought to drink it."

"Sure" he said smoothly, hiding his surprise at the invitation.

Once they were in the kitchen, Jenna poured herself a generous glass of wine and him a large glass of bourbon.

"I'm really shitty at this whole parenting thing but I feel like I have to say something so please bear with me" she took a long sip of wine and continued.

"Elena puts on a strong face but she's in a lot of pain. She lost both of her parents in one night and she blames herself for it. On top of that, she thinks it's her fault that I had to move here and take care of her and Jeremy. Obviously she isn't to blame for either of those things but that doesn't stop her from beating herself up about it. I will admit that I've spent most of my life trying to get out of this town, but coming here to take care of my niece and nephew has been the most humbling, amazing experience of my life. I've always loved them both to pieces but now they're my responsibility. So…I realize this is only your second date and she's going to kill me if she finds out I talked to you, but please, please don't hurt her. She doesn't deserve it. I've dated guys with faces like yours and it's never turned out well for me but I'm hoping you're not like most guys. I'm hoping that I'm not wrong about you and you really do care about her. "

Damon listened to her little speech and felt a pang of sympathy. Jenna was young, only a year or two older than him when he'd died, and he imagined two teenagers who had just lost their parents would be a lot to handle. He chose his next words very carefully, wanting to set the young woman's mind at ease but not wanting to lie to her either. The last thing he needed was for Elena's aunt to ban her from seeing him. _The joys of dating a teenager _he thought and then her laughing face popped into his head.

_Worth it. _

"I do care about her. More than I've cared about anyone in a very long time. I could lie and tell you I'm not like those guys you dated but I am. In fact, I'm probably a lot worse. All I can do is promise you that I will do everything in my power to make sure she's happy. I know she's been through a lot and the last thing that I want to do is to cause her any more pain."

"That sounded surprisingly truthful and I appreciate you not feeding me a line of bullshit. But I'm reserving judgment until after the third date…I'm assuming there will be a third date?"

"As long as she wants to keep going on dates, I'll keep asking her out"

"Good. Because I think you might be exactly what she needs"

"I hope so" he told her honestly and finished the bourbon.

"I should be going. Thank you for the drink and the…enlightening conversation."

"Anytime" she told him and tipped her refilled wine glass in his direction "I have one question though"

"Shoot" he said.

"Did you kiss her yet?" Jenna asked with a sly smile.

Damon smirked back at her "Goodnight, Jenna"

"Oh come on!" he heard her call disappointedly as he slipped out the front door and back to his car.

** E**lena woke disoriented when her alarm went off the next day. She looked around but couldn't for the life of her remember how she'd gotten into her bed. The last thing she remembered was lying down on the couch at the boarding house with Damon. Grabbing for her phone, she turned off the alarm and searched for his number. He answered on the first ring.

"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty"

"Good morning. I woke up in my bed" she said groggily

"Were you hoping to wake up in mine?" he asked in a low, honeyed voice.

She felt her cheeks flush bright red. Sitting up, she resisted the urge to slap her own forehead.

"I…No…I mean…How did I get here? I don't remember coming home"

"I carried you" he told her and if possible, her face got even redder.

"I fell asleep at your house and you carried me home?"

"No I carried you to the car, drove you home, and then I carried you up to your bed."

"Oh, ok"

_Obviously _she thought and hoped there was coffee downstairs. Clearly she needed it.

"How about I pick you up after school today? Maybe you'll be more awake"

"Ok" _more awake and far less stupid _she hoped to herself.

"I'll see you at 2:30"

"Ok" it seemed like the safe thing to say.

"Get some coffee, Elena" he told her with a laugh.

"Ok. And Damon?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for bringing me home"

"You're welcome" he said sweetly and hung up.

Normally she was a jeans and t-shirt kind of girl but after her coffee and a shower, she chose a dark blue sun dress with little red flowers and the ankle boots Caroline had gotten her for Christmas. She appraised herself in the mirror and decided it was cute but not too flashy. Caroline would approve.

"You're seeing Damon tonight, aren't you?" Bonnie asked with a grin when she saw Elena at her locker.

"He's picking me up after school" Elena told her, barely containing her excitement.

"So I finally get to see him?"

"Maybe even meet him"

"How was last night?" Bonnie wriggled her eyebrows at her.

"He made me dinner, we talked for hours, and then I fell asleep on his couch" she said with a sigh.

"You fell asleep on his couch?" Bonnie asked dryly.

"Well he was lying on the couch and I fell asleep on him"

"Oooh now that's more interesting"

"Not really. I was completely passed out and I guess he had to carry me to his car and then carry me to my bed, which is sort of humiliating."

"You do sleep like the dead" Bonnie commented and Elena couldn't stop the little snort of laughter.

"What?" her friend asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Nothing"

By the time last period rolled around she felt like leaping out of her seat. The bell rung and she was about to bolt for the doors when she realized she'd left her phone in her gym locker. Annoyed with herself, she made a beeline for the locker room and quickly twisted the lock on the metal door. There was a strange noise behind her and she whirled around to find Tyler Lockwood standing behind her.

"Oh my god, Tyler! You scared me."

"Sorry, Elena" he said with his usual unpleasant sneer.

"What are you doing in here? This is the girl's locker room"

"I wanted to catch you alone" he told her.

"Oh" she said feeling suddenly on edge.

Tyler had pursued her for weeks after she and Matt were officially over. She'd finally had to lie and say that she wasn't over Matt yet and she needed some space. Until right now, she'd sort of forgotten about him.

"I thought you might like to go the decade dance with me" he said and started to close in on her.

"Um, actually I'm sort of seeing someone and he's going to take me"

"So much for needing space" he said, his voice turning angry.

He was in her face now and he'd backed her up into the lockers. It seemed like the older her got, the angrier Tyler became and it was really starting to annoy her. She'd heard from several people that he was picking on Jeremy and she couldn't believe he even had the nerve to ask her out.

"I just started seeing him, and I'm sorry but I was never really into you" she said and started to ease away from him.

"You're such a little tease. Just like the rest of them" he said hatefully, grabbing her arms and shoving his body against hers.

"What are you doing? Get off me!" she yelled and started to struggle against him.

"Shut up, bitch" he said and covered her mouth.

Ripping her dress down the front with his free hand, he started grinding his hips painfully into hers and tears started to fall involuntarily down her cheeks. _No, no, no, no _her mind screamed as she thrashed wildly and tried to get away from him. He moved his hand to try and press his mouth against hers but she whipped her head to the side.

"Stop! Someone help!" she shouted and the back of his hand connected with her cheek before it went back over her mouth.

Elena felt him shoving her skirt up and she started to sob. The sound of a zipper had her struggling frantically again and just as she thought she was done for, there was a _whoosh _of air_. _Tyler was suddenly no longer against her. He was pinned up against the lockers on the opposite side of her by his throat and a very angry looking Damon was inches from his face.

"I'm going to kill you, you little fucker" he growled and she knew immediately that he was deadly serious.

"Damon, no!" she hissed "He's the mayor's son"

"I don't care if he's the son of God. He touched you, he dies" Damon snarled and tightened his grip on Tyler's throat.

"Please, don't kill him" she begged "he's not worth the trouble."

Damon looked to her and back to Tyler, whose lips were starting to turn blue, and then back again.

"I'm doing this for you" he told her and unceremoniously dropped Tyler.

"But" he added, dragging a coughing Tyler back up by his shirt and shoving his knee between her classmate's legs until he squeaked in pain "if you so much as look at her the wrong way, I will happily relieve you of your ability to procreate. Do you understand?"

Tyler nodded and Damon released him

"Then get the fuck out of here before I change my mind and pull your spine out of your throat"

The moment the boy bolted from the locker room, his attention went directly to her. He was looking down at her with a worried expression. Saying nothing, he gently brushed his thumb over the spot where Tyler had backhanded her and she saw a flash of anger pass through his electric blue eyes.

"I'm ok" she lied as her hands trembled and the tears surged behind her eyes.

Damon pulled her against him "You're safe, I've got you"

She wrapped her arms tightly around him and let him hold her until she could breathe normally. Pulling back just enough to look up at him, she let out a tiny burst of hysterical laughter.

"Something funny?" he asked her, his eyes curious.

"A vampire just saved me from the high school quarterback. It's like an episode of Buffy or something"

"See I told you, you have a good sense of humor" he chuckled down at her.

"Thank you for saving me. Again" she said more seriously.

"I'm just sorry I didn't get here sooner. You were only five minutes late but when you didn't answer your phone I listened for your voice…I heard you yell for help and I heard him hit you. That piece of shit has no idea how lucky he is to be alive"

She could feel the fury radiating off of him and she wrapped her arms around him tighter.

"But I'm safe because of you" she soothed.

He looked down at her and touched his forehead to hers "That's all that matters, is that you're safe"

"You're awfully protective for a guy who hasn't even kissed me yet" she teased.

"Let's get you home so you can change and we'll see what we can do about the kissing thing"

She nodded in agreement "Yes please"

He shrugged out of his jacket and put it around her shoulders to cover her tattered dress. She smiled gratefully at him and he started to lead her out of the locker room when she remembered the whole reason she'd come in there.

"Hang on. I need my phone" she said and turned back to her locker.

Once they got to the car, she saw that she had several frantic texts from Bonnie.

_I see the blue Camaro but not him. _

_Where are you? More importantly, where is he?_

_Elenaaaa! I want to see your hot guy! _

_Ok I have to go but I'm going to be at The Grill later and I really think you should stop by with Damon._

Peeking at him out of the corner of her eye as they drove to her house, she wondered if he would make an appearance with her. He didn't strike her as the overly friendly type but he _had _offered to go to the dance with her. Maybe it would be good for him to meet her best friend before she showed up at the dance with him.

"We can go to the grill later if you want" he told her.

She gaped at him "How did you…?"

"I can see your texts from here"

"Oh my god" she said embarrassed and blackened the screen.

"Your hot guy, huh?" he taunted her with a lopsided smirk.

She opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. Instead she giggled at him and shook her head. Dashing up to her room when they got to her house, she showered and put on her favorite jeans with a comfortable sweater. _That's what I get for trying to be cute _she thought sadly as she examined the torn sundress. When she came downstairs, Damon was on the couch playing a video game with her little brother.

"I thought you said you'd never played this before" Jeremy complained and Elena smiled.

"I'm a fast learner" Damon told him and set the remote down when he saw her.

"Dude…?" Jeremy stared at him angrily as he walked around the table to offer her his arm.

"We'll play again some other time. I have a date with your sister"

"Well I see you two have met" Elena said happily.

"Yeah he's cool" Jeremy said and started playing the game again.

She was beaming at Damon as he led her out the door.

"My brother said you're cool" she whispered when Jeremy was out of ear shot.

"No offence but, so?"

"Jeremy doesn't think _I'm_ cool. In fact, he thinks I'm lame" she told him.

"Poor kid lives in a house with two girls. He just needs a guy to talk to"

"It was really nice of you to hang out with him for a few minutes"

He grinned at her and held the car door open. She got the feeling that he'd been friendly with Jer for her sake but she was still grateful. Damon was right, he was a sixteen year old boy stuck in a house with two overprotective girls. She was still trying to think of a way to help her brother when they pulled up to the Mystic Grill.

"This is so great of you" she told Damon when he'd parked.

"You have been abnormally understanding of this whole situation, Elena. I'm still slightly shocked that you're sitting in the seat next to me of your own free will. The least I can do is meet some of your friends." he told her

"Also, you can play the 'I was attacked' card for at least another couple of hours."

Despite the horror of the afternoon, she smiled at his quip as she got out of the car.

"Um, my ex Matt works here" she said when it dawned on her outside the entrance.

"Is that going to be a problem?" he asked.

"No, we're friends but he hasn't seen me with anyone else. I don't think he'll say anything but just ignore him if he's not exactly…sociable"

"I have a feeling there are going to be one or two interested stares this evening. I'll manage"

"Ok, well then let's go inside"

He was right. People did stare and she felt a knot of nervous tension slink into her shoulders. Elena Gilbert and Matt Donovan had been the 'golden couple' of Mystic Falls for almost two years. She wasn't sure how they would react to Damon. He was the mysterious older and painfully good-looking Salvatore brother. And she was Grayson and Miranda Gilbert's daughter. They had been pillars of their community and the entire town had mourned with her family when they died. Elena knew that being a founding family member came with certain obligations but she'd never worried about anyone's approval until they walked into the dining room of the grill and several conversations came to a grinding halt. Then his fingers were winding their way through hers and he lightly tugged her closer to him. He acted like he hadn't even noticed the whispers and raised eyebrows.

"Do you see Bonnie?" he asked her casually and looked around.

Elena peered over heads until her brown eyes found Bonnie's smiling green ones.

"Over there" she pointed to the back table where her friend was waving to them.

The place was crowded and he affectionately slung his arm around her shoulder to navigate them through the tables. Butterflies danced in her stomach; she was about to introduce Damon to her best friend in front of pretty much the entire town.

"You ok?" he whispered in her ear.

"Yeah, I'm fine" she sounded unconvincing even to her own ears.

"Your heart is pounding and I can see your eyelid twitching"

"Everyone is staring at us" she confessed nervously.

"Who cares what they think? They're just jealous. They wish they were as hot as we are" he gave her a cocky grin and winked at her.

_**A/N: If you've read either of my other fics, you probably know I have a serious thing for the Bamon friendship so we'll be seeing a little of that in the next chapter. Fingers crossed that Bon-Bon is back in the next ep of TVD! **_


	5. Chapter 5 - Anything in the World

**Chapter 5 – More than Anything in the World **

She smiled, feeling much better with his arm around her as they approached the table with a very anxious looking Bonnie.

"Damon this is my best friend, Bonnie Bennett. Bonnie this is Stefan's brother, Damon Salvatore" she introduced them as she and Damon took their seats.

"It's nice to meet you, Bonnie" he gave her friend a warm smile.

"You too, Damon" Bonnie said and smiled back.

"Has the waitress been over?" Damon asked, glancing at the empty space in front of Bonnie.

"No, I think she's really busy. Vicky called in sick again" Bonnie said the last part with a pointed look at her friend.

Elena rolled her eyes. Matt's older sister Vicky was a notorious party girl and 'sick' probably meant 'hung over'. Or still drunk and high. She wished Jeremy would find someone else to have a crush on.

"What do you girls want to drink? I'll go to the bar" Damon offered.

"Rum and coke?" Bonnie asked hopefully.

"Same for me" Elena said.

"Done and done. I'll be right back" Damon pushed away from the table and made his way lithely over to the bar.

Once he was at the bar Bonnie gave a tiny squeak.

"Oh my god, Elena! Caroline wasn't kidding. He is absurdly hot"

She saw Damon grin at the bar and knew he could hear them.

"I know" she whispered.

"Why are you whispering?"

"I feel like the whole room is eavesdropping on us" she lied.

"Paranoid much?" Bonnie asked but dropped her voice

"What does Jenna say about you dating an older guy?"

"She considered giving me a high five"

Bonnie laughed.

"Well it'll be handy when we want a drink"

"When have we ever had a problem getting a drink at The Grill?" Elena asked.

"True. So is he a good kisser?"

The smile disappeared and Elena looked down at the table with a shrug.

"What does that mean?"

"It means I don't know, ok? We haven't kissed yet"

"This is your third date and you haven't kissed?"

"There just…hasn't been the right moment. I think he wants it to be special"

"That's sort of sweet" Bonnie told her with a smile.

"Don't tell him that…" Elena said, imagining Damon's face at being called 'sweet'.

"He's coming back. That was fast" Bonnie said and watched as Damon maneuvered back to the table with their drinks.

Damon set three drinks on the table and took his seat.

"Two rum and cokes and a bourbon for me" he said and pushed their glasses toward them.

**T**he girl sitting across from him was the only Bennett witch he'd had yet to cross paths with and he was glad to have an excuse to finally satisfy his curiosity. Something about Bonnie reminded him of Emily and his mind wandered back to the days when he'd first turned. With his humanity mostly intact in 1864, his hatred of the founding families had inspired him to go above and beyond his initial promise to save Emily Bennett's children. In those days their skin color meant that their only option was to either leave town or seek employment in the homes of the families who had burned their mother alive. That hadn't sat well with Damon or Stefan. In a rare moment of peace, the brothers agreed to set up an anonymous trust for the Bennett family shortly after Emily died. It was probably the one thing in a century that they'd never argued about and to this day they still made sure the money never ran dry. He'd never purposefully sought them out, but somehow fate had always brought him to each and every Bennett witch since Emily's death.

"So Grams told me I have powers" Bonnie said to Elena with a grin.

"Like you're psychic?" Elena laughed.

Damon's attention was suddenly drawn back to the conversation.

"No she said I'm like, a witch or something"

_Or something _he mused to himself.

"Was that before or after she put the brandy in her coffee?"

Bonnie snickered.

"After. But I've had this weird feeling lately. Like something is about to happen"

He had to bite his tongue to keep from telling her that her Grams wasn't a drunk and that Bonnie almost certainly did have powers. Her family clearly hadn't told her that she came from a long line of very powerful witches and he wasn't about to rock that boat. On the other hand, that didn't mean he couldn't give her a little encouragement.

"Powers or no, I've always found it's best to trust your instincts" he told her.

"You think it actually means something?" Bonnie asked him seriously.

He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Have you ever had a feeling like that before?" he asked.

"Actually, yeah I have"

"And were you right?" he prodded.

"Yes, I was" she replied and looked at him thoughtfully.

"Well I think that answers your question"

The little witch smiled at him genuinely for a moment before Elena changed the subject to the decade dance. He'd actually forgotten to ask what decade and when she mentioned the 50's he groaned inwardly. Not that he hated the era but he wasn't a fan of putting crap in his hair. Stefan had always had a particular affection for hair products but Damon preferred the "I just rolled out of bed" look.

"You're still going with me, right?" Elena asked him.

"Of course, as long as I get to be a Greaser" he told her with a mischievous grin

"A Greaser? Was that really a thing?" she asked skeptically

"Haven't you seen Grease?" he asked.

"I thought that was just in the movies" Bonnie said.

"Nope, Greasers and Squares were a real thing" he told them, amused.

"How do you know? You weren't around" Bonnie asked.

"You could say I'm a bit of a history buff" he told her.

"So if you're a Greaser, does that mean I don't get to wear your letter jacket?" Elena asked, changing the subject.

"No, but you can wear my _leather_ jacket" he said a waggled his eyebrows at her.

She giggled and peeked demurely at him from under her lashes. _You're doomed, Salvatore _the voice in his head told him.

"Is it just me or is Tyler Lockwood staring at us?" Bonnie said and looked over his shoulder worriedly.

Damon's mood instantly blackened

"Where?" he demanded

"Behind you. He's kind of creeping me out"

He started to get up but Elena put a hand on his arm.

"Don't, please. Not here"

The urge to beat the kid within an inch of his life was softened only by the look on her face. She was already nervous about what the town would think of them and he didn't want to embarrass her. Reluctantly he sat back down but he chose the seat in between Bonnie and Elena on the opposite side of the table so he could watch the Lockwood kid.

"What happened with Tyler?" Bonnie asked, sounding concerned.

He looked to Elena and she nodded, giving him the go ahead to tell Bonnie about that afternoon.

"He attacked Elena in the girl's locker room after school"

"He did what?!" rage filling her voice as she glared at Tyler.

"Damon got worried when I didn't answer my phone and he got there just in time. That's why you didn't see him after school"

"What happened?" Bonnie asked, her eyes filled with worry.

"He asked me to the dance and I said I already had a date. He freaked out and started grabbing at me…" she faltered and looked to him, unable to finish the story.

"He was going for his zipper when I got there" Damon said darkly.

"Oh Elena" sympathy filled Bonnie's voice and she squeezed her friend's hand.

"Thank god you got there in time" Bonnie told Damon.

He just nodded. Elena's terrified face flashed through his mind and he fought the urge to tear out the little piss-ants throat in front of the entire town.

"I should probably get home" Bonnie said, looking down at her phone.

"Do you want a ride?" Damon asked feeling obligated to offer.

"I have a car but thank you. It was really nice to meet you, Damon"

"It was good to meet you, too" he said and meant it.

"Do you want another drink?" he asked Elena after Bonnie had gone.

"Maybe just one more" she said.

"One more it is"

He got them another round and they made idle chit chat while they sipped them.

"So where to after this?" she asked.

"I was thinking about a movie at my house"

"I didn't see any TV's when I was there" she said doubtfully.

"Can I make a confession? I just bought one the other day and managed to get it set up in the library last night"

He could see her fighting laughter and felt a tiny bit defensive.

"I've never stayed anywhere long enough to need one" he told her.

"Are you planning on staying here for a while then?"

"As long as you want me here"

Elena beamed at him and slammed the rest of her drink.

"Let's get out of here" she said.

It took all of his self-control not to drive like a madman back to the boarding house. He really had installed a TV but he wasn't sure how much use they were going to get out of it tonight. He was trying to keep in mind that this was only their third date and, from the sounds of things, she'd only ever had one serious boyfriend. They hadn't even officially established that they were a couple yet. As they pulled into his driveway, he promised himself he would take things slow and if she wanted to stop, he would stop. When she climbed out of the car as he held the door open, he caught a glimpse of cleavage and silently hoped he could keep that promise.

"So, a movie?" she asked once they were inside.

"Yeah but you have to figure out how to work it"

She smiled and nodded in agreement as he directed them to the library where he'd set up the TV in a small alcove at the back of the room. He'd moved some books to make way for the few DVD's he'd purchased along with the television set and Elena was trailing her finger along the titles.

"How about this?" she said and pulled out Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Damon had picked that one for her. He could see her being a Hepburn fan.

"Have you ever seen it?" he asked.

"No, actually I haven't"

"Really?" he asked surprised.

"Nope, but I loved her in My Fair Lady"

He flopped down on the large sofa he'd set up in front of the TV as she pushed buttons and started the DVD. Elena's heart was skipping around like crazy and he suppressed the explicit comment that was on the tip of his tongue. He didn't want to make her more nervous that she already was. She sat down tentatively next to him and kicked off her shoes. Immediately he put his arm around her to pull her closer and she nestled her head in the crook of his shoulder. They watched the movie in silence for a while but he only had so much self-control when she was this close to him with her sweet scent and racing pulse.

"Elena" he whispered and tipped her face up with the tip of his finger.

The moment their eyes met she stopped breathing and somehow her heartbeat got even faster. Her tongue darted out to lick her lips and she swallowed hard. Damon watched her eyes for any sign of hesitation but, in spite of her pounding heart, she made no move to shift away from him. Slowly, carefully, he dipped his head down to touch his mouth to hers. The kiss was like molasses at first, just their lips brushing slowly over each other's. As they kissed, he felt a strange kind of warmth start to overcome his body. The more heated the kiss became, the warmer he felt. It started in his fingers and he felt it moving up his arms, through his chest. It was incredible and he wanted more. His tongue pushed past her lips and he heard a tiny moan in the back of her throat as she kissed him back. Reluctantly he pulled away so she could catch her breath but the dazed expression on her face had him drawing her back in for more. Elena's hand came up to rest on his cheek and he wrapped an arm around her waist to pull her onto his lap. She moved her legs to straddle him and deepened the kiss. The closer she got, the longer they kissed, the warmer he felt. A tingling sensation in his legs had him pulling away to stare at her. _What the hell is she doing to me? _He thought briefly. In a move that must've taken a fair amount of courage on her part, she stripped off her shirt and bit her lip self-consciously. Any questions he had about the odd sensations disappeared at the sight of her half naked body on top of him. His mouth went dry and his hands moved of their own free will.

"You are so beautiful" he murmured as his fingers trailed lightly over the exposed olive toned skin.

With a contented sigh, she leaned into him and pressed her lips to his as she tugged at the hem of his shirt. Damon raised his arms and broke the kiss just long enough to let her pull it over his head. Hesitantly, she ran her hands up his chest and over his shoulders. He gave a low rumble of appreciation and put his hands on her hips to pull her down against now aching stiffness just under his zipper. With a whimper she melted into him and he moved his lips away from hers to trial kisses down her throat, his quick fingers sneaking up her back to unsnap the simple black bra. Tossing the garment aside, he pushed her back so he could drink in the perfect form above him. There were no words for the way she looked to him. Her cheeks were flushed a pretty shade of pink and her lips were swollen from kissing. The hair she'd tossed over one shoulder trailed down her chest like an arrow pointing to where his hands should be. He indulged and cupped her breasts with his hands, running his thumbs over the dusky peaks. A low 'mmmm' came from her lips as she leaned into his touch and Damon knew he was at the tipping point. If they took his any further, there was no going back.

"Elena, if you want to stop…" his mouth said the words but the rest of his body was screaming at him to shut the hell up.

"No" she murmured and a jolt of relief ran through him.

"Are you sure? After the day you had, I would understand" he said, giving her one last chance.

"I want you, Damon" she whispered against his ear, a touch of desperation to her voice.

That was it, he was done for. Damon wrapped the blanket from the back of the couch around her and gripping her waist, he lowered them carefully to the floor so that he was on top of her. Through the haze of desire he vaguely heard his favorite line in the movie: _It's a mistake you always made, Doc, trying to love a wild thing. _The gorgeous creature below him appeared to be everything sweet and soft and delicate but he could sense a real fire in her. There was a quiet wildness about Elena that he found more exhilarating with every passing second. Sweeping his gaze down her prone body he couldn't imagine anything about this being a mistake. Then again, maybe they were both wild things. He looked down at her affectionately while she fumbled with his belt.

"Need some help?" he asked with a grin as he made swift work of her jeans.

"Nope" she replied and shoved his pants down over his hips.

A tiny sharp intake of breath escaped her mouth when she found him commando and he saw her eyes go wide when she looked down at him. He braced himself over her on outstretched arms as Elena took a steadying breath and reached down to wrap her long fingers around his shaft. He closed his eyes and hummed in approval. It was an excruciating kind of pleasure. Half of him wanted to let her keep touching him in the delightfully tentative way that she was. The other half wanted to pin her arms over her head and show her what happens when you tease Damon Salvatore. He tried for somewhere in the middle of the two, gently pulling her hand away while he dropped his own between her legs. The moment he started to touch her through the damp material of the black thong, her back arched and her fingers tangled in his hair. He used the pad of his thumb to torment the tiny bundle of nerves at her apex, pressing the fabric hard against her to create a friction that had her moaning. Just as she was about to topple over the edge of an orgasm, he moved his thumb away and pushed the scrap of material to the side to barely run the tip of his finger up and down her slick folds.

"Damon, _please" _she whimpered and writhed underneath him.

"Please what?" he demanded

"Please, I…" her words were cut off when he slid two fingers smoothly inside her.

"Is that what you wanted?"

"Oh god…"

Elena's breath was coming out in short pants and he was thoroughly enjoying watching her heaving chest as he moved his fingers in and out of her at an achingly slow pace.

"More, I need more" she begged frantically and scratched at his shoulders, trying to drag him closer.

A slow, satisfied smile spread over his face as he peered down at his handiwork. Little beads of sweat were forming on her skin, she was chewing feverishly at her lower lip, her eyes were fluttering open and shut wildly, and when her fingers weren't on him they were clawing helplessly at the blanket that was underneath her.

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch that. What did you need?" he teased.

"You" she gasped "I need you inside me."

Her words knocked the snark right out of him and he tugged the underwear down her legs. Elena brought her mouth up to his and kissed him at a leisurely pace, the movement of her lips unhurried. Settling his hips against hers he added some heat to the kiss; his tongue swirling against hers, his blunt teeth nipping lightly at her bottom lip. Her legs went instinctively around his waist and he couldn't wait any more. Using his hand, he guided himself inside her until he was fully buried in the delicious warmth of her body. Damon had been with his fair share of women over the last century but nothing, _nothing _had ever felt like this. Every move, every thrust, every touch sent wave after wave of pure electric desire through his entire being. Elena seemed to be right there with him; her nails biting into the skin of his shoulders, his name breathlessly leaving her lips. The urge to drive them both into ecstasy was outmatched only by the desire to prolong the experience. Eventually he felt her body clamp down around him and his control went out the window. He hooked an arm under her knee, drawing one leg up until her knee was almost touching her ear and driving forward hard. Her mouth fell open in a silent scream when he hit the sweet spot deep inside her. He pulled back slowly and then starting plunging into her hard and fast. The climax hit them both at the same time as their bodies crashed together and their cries bounced off the walls. With a groan, he collapsed next to her and twined his legs through hers.

As they lay in a tangle of limbs on the floor of his library, he had the strangest sense of being hungry. In fact, he was starving but the craving wasn't for blood. It was for food. The moment the word 'food' popped into his head, his stomach growled. He froze. His stomach didn't do that. Vampire stomachs did not rumble. Ever. Then he realized that he couldn't smell her blood or hear her heart beating beside him and he had absolutely no desire to bite her. He licked his teeth and tried to change his face. Nothing happened. _What the fuck…_he thought and sat up quickly.

"Are you ok?" she asked, her voice still winded.

He looked down at her with narrowed eyes.

"Did you do something to me?"

"Um…I think we were doing things to each other" she was looking at him like he was crazy.

"No, that's not what I mean…" he jumped to his feet and yanked his pants on.

"What's the matter?" she said and scrambled to follow him.

He dug an old pocket knife out of a desk drawer and pricked his finger. A drop of blood appeared. Then another and another and it continued to bleed until he sucked his finger into his mouth. The blood tasted metallic and…well, like blood. It didn't have the sweet, tempting flavor he'd come to know over the last hundred and seventy odd years and he pulled it away from his mouth to stare at it curiously. Elena was standing next to him. She'd pulled his shirt on and was looking at him with wide, confused eyes.

"You didn't do anything to me?" he asked her again.

"I really don't know what you mean by that" she said sounding bewildered and mildly annoyed.

His mind raced and tried to think of an explanation. A shiver ran through him and it occurred to him that he was cold. There were goose-bumps all over his arms. He literally couldn't remember the last time he's seen goose-bumps on his skin. He ran hands over them quickly and they disappeared.

"Are you cold? Do you want your shirt back?"

"No…it's ok…" he said absently.

"Will you please tell me what's going on?"

"I…don't know…"

A memory flashed through his mind; a piece of paper and a white candle. _For one day you will have what you want most in the world…If the moment comes, you'll know what it is. _

"Holy fucking shit" he whispered to himself.

"Oh my god this is killing me! Will you please say something that makes sense?"

"I'm…human"


	6. Chapter 6 - The Parting Gift

**Look at me, posting two days in a row! If you reviewed and I haven't replied, I promise I'll get to you soon! In the meantime, I must tell you that the warm and fuzzies I get from your feedback are the highlight of my whole week – you're the best readers in the world! I'm so excited to hear what you think of the first part of Damon's human day **

**(p.s. did anyone else cry like a baby at last week's TVD? Tonight's looks equally tear jerking so hopefully this chapter cheers you up a little) **

**xoxo**

**Chapter 6 – The Parting Gift **

"What?" she asked sounding mystified and moved closer to him.

"What time is it?"

"It's 8:30. Did you just say you're human?"

"You need to get some coffee. We're not sleeping for the next 24 hours."

"Ok you need to stop and tell me what's going on"

"I don't know what triggered it but if I'm right, I get to be human for the next 24 hours"

"How is that possible?"

"I have an idea but I need to talk to someone. The grandmother Bonnie mentioned…what's her damn name? Sheila! Does Shelia still live in town?"

He couldn't explain how he knew but he was one hundred percent sure that this was Emily's 'parting gift'.

"Yes but why do you need to talk to her?"

"Because your friend doesn't know she's a witch yet. And since I'm pretty sure one of Bonnie's ancestors did this, I need a Bennett witch"

"Wait a minute, Bonnie is a witch?" she asked with a raised eyebrow

"Yeah but don't tell her. She'll figure it out. Can you tell me where Shelia lives?"

She scribbled the address on a piece of paper and handed it to him with a puzzled look on her face.

"Get dressed. I'm going to take you home to change and you're going to find some excuse to stay out all night. If I'm right about this, we have a lot to do"

"Damnit Damon, what the hell is going on?" she demanded loudly, hands on her hips.

He sighed. She wasn't going to drop it so he paraphrased as best he could.

"I did a favor for a witch a long time ago. She was killed but before she died she left me a letter that said she had a farewell present for me; sometime in the future I would have one day of the thing I wanted most in the world which, as you know, is to be human"

Elena's expression softened.

"So you have one day to be human and you want to spend it with me?" she asked, sounding pleased.

"Of course, who else would I spend it with?"

Elena smiled widely at him.

"Ok, I'll figure it out" she promised and ran to grab her clothes.

"This is unreal" he said and pushed at the tiny wound on his finger to make it bleed again.

"Bleeding is unreal?"

"I haven't had a superficial wound in over a century" he said quietly and stared in awe at the drop of blood.

"Are you sure Bonnie is a witch?" she asked again.

"Yep"

"How?"

"She's a Bennett woman. I've never met one who _wasn't _a witch"

"Man that's going to be hard to keep a secret" she muttered as she pulled her boots on.

"Are you ready?" he asked impatiently.

"Ready!"

He dropped her off at her house with a quick kiss and a promise to return in an hour. On his way to the Bennett house, he rolled his window down and cranked the heater all the way up just to feel the temperature difference. It had been so long since he'd felt hot or cold in their true forms. As a vampire, he could feel hot and cold but they didn't actually affect him one way or another. He could wear a leather jacket in 90 degree weather and not sweat a drop. The cool air on his face from outside combined with the hot air from the heater in his car was like a hot fudge sundae, the perfect mix of hot and cold. _Oooh a hot fudge sundae _he thought and his stomach grumbled again. He grinned at the sensation and decided to put food off for a little bit just to revel in the feeling of actual hunger. When he arrived at the small but well-kept house, he stood in the driveway for a moment and listened. He couldn't hear anything but the faint sounds of the neighborhood and the slight breeze blowing through the air. There was no need to tune out squirrels scampering through trees hundreds of yards away or a conversation two houses over. It was wonderful. He made his way to the door and knocked. The woman who answered looked almost identical to the woman he'd met more than twenty years ago. A few more lines in her face but like most Bennett women, she was still very attractive.

"Damon Salvatore" she said, sounding surprised.

"Hello, Shelia. It's been a while"

"I'm not going to invite you in" she said cautiously.

"Funny thing, I don't need to be invited" he waved his arm past her head to show her that he could enter her home without an invitation.

Her jaw dropped and she took a step back.

"I'm not here to hurt you, I promise. I'm pretty sure this is Emily's doing and I just want some answers"

The witch reached out and grazed his outstretched hand with her fingers.

"My god…you're human" she said in disbelief.

"I gathered as much when I started craving pizza instead of people. Can I please come in?"

She held her arm out to welcome him inside.

"Would you like a drink?" she said and opened a cabinet.

"No, actually I think for the moment I'll stay sober"

"Suit yourself" she said and poured herself a generous helping of what looked like brandy.

She gestured for him to sit down on the couch while she took the easy chair across from it.

"I don't have a lot of time so here's the long and short of it: As I'm sure you know, Emily Bennett was burned at the stake by the town council in 1864. What you might not know is that I managed to get her kids away from the founding families before they got their hands on them. After she died her daughter gave me a letter from Emily that told me if I got a white candle and burned the letter, she had a gift for me. So I did it and nothing happened. Honestly I didn't give it much thought after that but last night when I kissed Elena I started to feel…strange. I didn't realize what was happening until after we…well we were naked and my stomach started to growl and it hasn't done that in a _very _long time. The letter said I would have one day of the thing I wanted most in the world"

"I take it that one thing is to be human?" she asked.

He gave her a brief nod. Saying it out loud to Elena had been hard enough, he disliked having to admit it to someone who was practically a stranger.

"Can I see your hand?" she asked after a moment.

"What for?" he asked distrustfully

"I won't take it away, don't worry. I just need to get a read on the spell"

He held his hand out reluctantly and she cupped it from the bottom as she traced her fingers over the lines on his palm.

"You're right, it is Emily's magic. It was triggered by…" she stopped mid-sentence and stared at him.

"It was triggered by what?" he asked anxiously

"You're going to think I'm making this up but I swear I'm not"

"Just tell me!" he insisted.

"True love" she said quickly.

"You're right, I do think you're fucking with me" he said with narrowed eyes.

"I promise you, it's the truth. Emily was a romantic at heart and she set this spell to be triggered by true love's kiss. Of all the ridiculous things…" Sheila muttered the last part.

"Elena?" he asked in a hushed voice.

"Is that so surprising?" she asked and dropped his hand.

"I guess not" he said and smiled to himself.

"Since I helped you, I'd like you to answer a question"

"Ok…" he agreed suspiciously.

"Are you the benefactor?"

Damon froze. _This is what you get for putting her through college _he thought.

"The what?" he feigned ignorance.

"Don't lie to me Mr. Salvatore. I'm good at spotting liars"

"How'd you guess?" he asked, irritated that she'd figured it out.

"That account has been around as long as anyone in my family can recall and we've always just called it the 'school fund' but I know better. Witchcraft isn't what you'd call a high paying job and yet someone is still making regular deposits. You saved her children. I don't know you very well but you don't strike me as the kind of man who goes around rescuing little children so you must've at least respected her. She thought enough of you to give you this gift and make you and your brother daylight rings. So, as unlikely as it sounds, you make the most sense."

He gaped at her in shock. In a hundred and seventy years not one Bennett had ever put the pieces together, or if they had, they'd been to chicken to ask about it. Damon made a mental note not to underestimate Sheila Bennett.

"Don't stop taking the money. It's the one decent thing I still do in this world and it's the only thing that Stefan and I don't argue about" he pleaded.

"I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth but you paid for my education. You're going to pay for my grandbaby's' education. I want to know why"

"Because those bastards on the council had a major hand in ruining my life and after they burned Emily alive...the idea of her kids being forced to work for them…" he could hear his voice shaking with anger, even after all these years. He composed himself and finished the thought.

"Back then there weren't many options for people with your skin color so with the last shreds of our humanity, Stefan and I decided to help. Your family has never done anything but better themselves with the money so we never stopped reloading the account"

"And I suppose the fact that the council leader was your father and he shot you didn't have anything to do with it?"

It was slightly unnerving that this woman knew so much about him but he supposed he shouldn't be surprised. She'd taught occult arts at Whitmore College for fifteen years and if you knew what you were looking for, it wasn't actually that hard to dig up his family's history.

"That may have factored into the decision" he admitted and stared at his feet.

The night they'd turned, Stefan had been so sure their father would be glad to see them and that he wouldn't care if they were vampires, as long as he had his sons. Damon had tried to tell him that it was Giuseppe that had shot them but his brother hadn't believed him until Giuseppe had tried to stake Stefan. Frankly, he hadn't been all that upset when Stefan confessed to ending their father's pathetic life. The phrase _good riddance _came to mind every time he thought about their dear old dad and the members of the council that he had disposed of once Giuseppe was dead. When he looked up, Shelia was sitting back in her chair and he could see tears forming in her eyes.

"Shit, please don't cry" he begged.

"I wouldn't be sitting here if it weren't for you and your brother. You'll have to forgive an old woman for being emotional"

"Just keep all this to yourself, will you?"

"I can do that" she promised.

"Thanks, Shelia"

"Thank _you_, Damon. If you don't mind, I'd like to add a little something to the gift. I can't make it last any longer but a small protection spell will keep you safe from any kind of supernatural harm for the next 24 hours"

"What's in it for you?" he asked knowing that witches rarely did anything without a price.

"Consider it a thank you for everything you've done for my family"

"No strings?"

"No strings" she assured him.

He hesitated. Witches were not usually big fans of vampires and it was odd that she would want to help him. But today he wasn't a vampire and he opted to trust her.

"Ok, go for it"

She held her hands up in front of his face and murmured something in the weird witchy language he'd heard a thousand times but never understood.

"There, you're all set. Go enjoy your day as a human and remember to look twice before you cross the street"

At first Damon gave her a baffled look and then he laughed. For the first time in his life, standing in the middle of the road might actually be dangerous for him.

"I'm sure I'll see you around" he told her and got up to leave.

"I'm sure you're right" she said as she walked him to the door.

**T**he waiting was killing her. After Elena showered, she downed two cups of coffee and one of Jeremy's energy drinks. Now she felt like she was vibrating with energy and she couldn't wait for Damon to come pick her up. She'd called Jenna and given her what she thought was a pretty great excuse for staying out all night and not coming back until the next day. A party. If her Aunt Jenna understood one thing, it was parties. Elena had promised that she would text back within twenty minutes, answer her phone no matter what, and not drink and drive. It had even given her an excuse to pack a change of clothes since she was staying out overnight. When she heard the rumble of the Camaro's engine she ran out of the house and jumped excitedly in the passenger seat.

"Hi!" she said with a giant smile and tossed her overnight bag into his backseat.

"You took the coffee thing seriously, didn't you?"

She frowned "Were you kidding?"

"Kind of but I'm glad you're awake"

"So what do you want to do?" she asked eagerly.

"Are you up for a run?" he asked with a devilish grin.

"Sure!"

He nodded and headed for the falls. They got out of the car at the edge of the woods and walked about a mile into the trees before he stopped at a clearing and closed his eyes.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Sshh, I'm listening" he whispered

"To what?" she whispered back.

"Nothing. It's so quiet out here. Usually I can hear a twig snap a mile away but all I hear is the wind"

She stood and watched him in the moonlight for a minute. He really was the most attractive man she'd ever seen._ Someone should draw him_ she thought. The line of his jaw, the curve of his mouth, the tousled black mane on his head; they seemed to be begging for someone to capture them with a pencil or paint.

"Ok, are you ready to race?" he asked and his baby blues snapped open to look at her.

"Ready when you are" she replied and was suddenly glad she'd gone for her sneakers.

They stood next to each other in the runner's stance.

"On your mark…get set…GO!" she shouted.

Before he could start, she shoved at his shoulder and tore off into the woods at a full sprint.

"Hey!" she heard him shout as he toppled over.

Even as a human he was fast. It didn't take long for him to catch up and the moment he did, he tackled her to the ground.

"You cheated!" he yelled as she tried to squirm away.

She'd almost escaped his grasp when he yanked her back by the ankle and started to tickle her.

"No! Stop!" she screeched in a fit of giggles.

"I can't believe you cheated" he said incredulously and continued to assault her abdomen with his fingertips.

"Mercy!" she cried between laughs.

He stopped and rolled off of her. When she propped herself up to look at him, he was smiling at her like a little boy on his birthday and her heart soared. He'd spent over a century wishing for this one thing and he only got one day to enjoy it. Elena wanted it to be perfect for him.

"I couldn't help myself, I'm never going to be able to beat you in a race again" she explained.

Damon chuckled.

"That's true. Actually I probably would have done the same thing"

"Wanna race back to the car?" she asked

"Are you going to cheat?"

"Maybe" she told him with a sly grin

"In that case…." he jumped to his feet and dashed off towards the car.

"No fair!"

She scrambled to her feet and took off after him. She found him leaning against the car with his hands on his knees, panting and laughing.

"What's so funny?"

"I never thought I'd be this excited to be out of breath. It feels really good"

"What does it feel like?" she asked.

She ran almost every morning so she knew the sensation well but she wondered what it felt like after a century of effortless strength.

"You know what it feels like" he said, sounding confused.

"I know but I want to hear you describe it. I know how much this means to you, Damon. I want to experience it with you."

He stood up straight and looked at her contemplatively.

"It burns like a bunch of tiny pinpricks in my chest. I can actually feel my lungs struggling to draw breath. God, that's weird…"

"Good weird?"

"Absolutely"

"So what's next?"

He thought for a second.

"Food. I'm starving"

"Ok, me too. What are you in the mood for?"

"Everything" he told her.

"How about an all-night diner? They usually have pretty much everything, right?"

"That sounds perfect" he said

"So how are you feeling?" she asked when they were in the car.

She was curious what being human felt like after being un-dead for over a hundred years.

"I don't even know how to describe it. The only word that comes to mind is 'alive'. I feel _alive._"

"I'm trying to imagine what that must feel like but I don't think I can even begin to fathom it. Did Bonnie's Grams have any answers?"

"She did but can we talk about that later? It's…I just don't really want to talk about it right now"

"Of course" she agreed, not wanting to push him right now.

They drove a few miles out of town to a small, nearly empty diner off the highway. The tall, very attractive, blonde waitress that seated them had a nametag that read "Jessica". She was a little older than Elena and she couldn't seem to take her eyes off of Damon. Not that she blamed the girl but it still bothered her. She tried to ignore the feeling since technically they hadn't even discussed being a couple, but the obvious overly exaggerated sway of the girl's hips as she walked them to the booth made Elena want to kick her. The girl batted her eyelashes at him when she handed them the menus but Damon barely looked her.

"I'll be right back to get your orders" she said, sounding disappointed.

Elena fought the smug smile that was tugging at the corners of her mouth and looked at the menu.

"What are you going to get?" she asked him.

"Pretty much everything"

"Seriously?" she asked dryly.

"Seriously" he told her and she realized he really wasn't kidding.

The waitress returned with a pad in hand.

"Are you ready to order?"

Damon didn't even look up from the menu.

"Yeah, we'll have a chocolate shake, a strawberry shake, an order of Belgian waffles, a stack of blueberry pancakes, three sides of bacon, three sides of scrambled eggs..." he paused "you do serve breakfast twenty four hours a day, right?"

The blonde nodded, looking astonished.

"Good. Where was I? Oh yeah, an order of French toast, two cheeseburgers, two hot dogs, two slices of pepperoni pizza, an order of fried chicken, the biggest basket of fries that you've got, and keep the Cokes coming"

"That's going to take some time…" the waitress said with wide eyes glancing back at the kitchen.

"That's alright, just bring it out as its ready" he told her.

"Um ok" she said and gave Elena a questioning look.

Elena just smiled sweetly at her and handed back the menu.

"There is no way we're going to eat all that" she told him when Jessica walked away.

"That's what doggy bags are for" he retorted.

"So we're eating re-heated junk food until tomorrow night?" she asked with a grin.

"Yep. That ok with you?"

"Totally, I just thought you might want to go to a fancy restaurant or something"

"Do _you _want to go to a fancy restaurant?"

"No way, I love diner food"

"Good, me too"

He settled back in the booth and looked at her with a lopsided grin. She felt her cheeks flush and she smiled back at him.

"What?" she asked and nervously tucked her hair behind her ear.

"I'm just really glad you're here" he confessed.

"I'm really glad to be here. Being with you is…it's the best I've felt in months"

"I've noticed that you don't talk about your parents much"

Elena shrugged. Thinking about them hurt. Talking about them felt like being stabbed in the heart.

"I can't talk about them without crying and I'm sick of crying" she told him

He nodded.

"That's understandable"

The waitress returned with the shakes and put them in the middle of the table along with two spoons.

"The waffles and pancakes will be right up" Jessica told them with a strained smile and disappeared again.

"I still can't believe you ordered all that food" she told him with a shake of her head.

"I've been craving nothing but human blood for the last hundred years. I'm going to milk this for all it's worth"

"What do you want to do after they call a crane to carry us out of here?" she asked him.

"What time is it?"

"11:15" she read out the numbers from her phone.

"Damn…time flies. Music, I want to find a concert or something. I want to be in a room full of people and not have to repress the urge to kill anyone"

"Is it really like that all the time for you? Even when you're around me?"

"It's a constant struggle, Elena. I'm pretty good at controlling the cravings but the second you get near me, I can smell your blood and…" he stopped mid-sentence and stuffed a spoonful of shake into his mouth.

"And what?" she pushed.

"I don't want to scare you"

"You can tell me" she promised gently.

"I can't say that I've never been tempted" he admitted begrudgingly.

"But I would never hurt you, you know that don't you?" he added.

"I know" Elena told him and meant it.

She tore her eyes away from his to scroll through concert venues on her phone.

"There's an eighteen and up club a few town over we could go to. It's not live music but there's a DJ and I'm sure tons of people" she told him

"That works for me" he said and scooped up another huge mouthful of strawberry shake.

A second later his eyes squeezed shut and he put a hand on his temple with a grimace.

"Brain freeze?" she asked with a chuckle.

"Is that what this is? Jesus it's horrible"

"Maybe try not eating the whole shake in one bite?" she asked sarcastically

He narrowed his eyes and scoffed at her. Jessica returned with their waffles and pancakes and let them know that the rest would be out shortly. Damon slathered both plates in syrup and butter before digging in.

"Holy shit this is the best thing ever" he groaned happily.

Elena rested her chin on the heel of her hand and watched him eat. She was pretty sure there was no one on the face of the earth who had ever enjoyed a waffle this much. He stopped with the fork halfway to his mouth.

"I know I'm hot but I'm going to need you to stop staring and help me eat this" he said with a cocky grin and pushed her fork towards her.


	7. Chapter 7 - Made for Each Other

**Have I told you all lately how wonderful you are? I'm over the moon happy that you're enjoying Damon's human day because this has been such fun to write. Here's hoping that you enjoy the second part of his evening as much as you did the first. As always, I am eagerly awaiting your thoughts and opinions! **

*****Rated MA for the last of the sexual content for a while*** **

**(I usually try to space the steamy stuff out a little more but I just couldn't help myself) **

**Chapter 7 – Made for Each Other**

"Sorry. You are pretty hot, though. Just ask the waitress" she said and stabbed at the stack of pancakes with her fork.

"Jealous?"

"Only if there's something to be jealous of"

"She's got nothing on you, Elena" he told her.

His voice was low and his eyes were doing that thing that made her heart pound. Just the tenor of his voice was sexy and if she'd been standing, she was pretty sure she would have gone weak in the knees. Every part of her wanted to be _his _girl and she wanted so badly to call him her boyfriend. But how do you ask a vampire who looks like some kind of dark Adonis, to be your boyfriend? Especially when you're just a normal teenage girl from a boring little town in Virginia.

"Um, I feel kind of weird asking this but are we…a couple?" she said anxiously and then promptly stuffed her mouth with a bite of French toast.

He finished chewing a bite of pizza that had just been dropped off and stared at her for a long moment.

"Do you want to be a couple?"

"Yes" she told him honestly

"Well I sure as hell don't want you seeing anyone else so yeah, I guess we are"

"Just like that?"

"I don't have Facebook so I can't change my relationship status" he told her with a grin.

She giggled.

"Ok then I'm going to start telling people you're my boyfriend"

"And I'll tell Stefan you're my girlfriend since I don't have anyone else to tell"

"If you're going to stick around and be with me, you might want to consider making a friend or two"

"Friends are overrated"

"You wouldn't say that if you had friends" she countered.

"Touché" he said and smiled at her.

Once all the food had finally been delivered and they'd eaten as much as they possibly could, they packed the leftovers into to-go boxes and headed towards the club. It was after midnight when they pulled up in front of a large industrial building with thumping bass pouring out of the doors.

"Do you dance?" he asked her.

"Um, hello? Miss Mystic Falls runner up here" she said and pointed to herself.

"Weird non-touching waltzes don't count"

"Yes, I dance" she assured him with a laugh.

Once they were inside, Damon took her hand and led them onto the dance floor. The music was loud and electronic. The bass was vibrating through her and suddenly she felt unsure of herself. All around them were pretty girls in short skirts and cute dresses while she was still in her jeans and sneakers. She hadn't even put any makeup on. Damon grinned at her and grabbed her arms to put them around his shoulders.

"Relax, you look beautiful" he murmured in her ear.

She didn't exactly feel beautiful but when she met his eyes, everything else seemed to disappear and all Elena could see was him. Strobe lights flashed intermittently over his face, turning his eyes an ethereal electric blue. The mane of dark hair on his head was messy from sweating and it was sticking out in every direction. Somehow it made him even sexier and she couldn't stop her fingers from sliding up the back of his neck to run her fingers through it. His hands slid from her shoulders to her hips and she let him guide her movements. Their bodies swayed and twisted perfectly in time. As they danced, a bizarre thought kept creeping into the back of her mind and it was becoming harder to ignore with every passing moment. _We were made for each other_. It was silly of course, to imagine that two people could actually have been created for one another but being with him felt so good,so right. Two hours went by and they were still dancing. Her legs ached and the caffeine high was starting to wear off but she didn't care. She was having so much fun and Damon hadn't stopped smiling since they walked in the door. Seeing him smile made every ache and every ounce of exhaustion worth it. A girl walked through the crowd passing out bottles of water every half an hour or so and they both gratefully accepted one every time she came by. It took her bladder shouting at her to pee to make her stop dancing.

"I think I'm gonna collapse if we don't leave soon" he told her when she walked out of the bathroom.

"This is your party. We can go whenever you're ready"

"You look tired" he said with a frown.

"I could go for a cup of coffee"

"Coffee does sound pretty good. Stefan usually keeps some around the house. Let's go back to my place. Once we're awake, I want to get drunk. Like stinking fucking drunk"

"Can't you get drunk as a vampire?" she asked

"Yeah but it takes _a lot _of booze and usually I drink because it curbs the cravings for blood. I want to drink just to get wasted"

"Okay, let's go"

"I feel like I probably shouldn't get used to you being this agreeable" he told her

"Definitely not" she said with a sly smile.

**T**his was, without a doubt, the best night of his life. He couldn't remember ever having this much fun. His stomach was full to bursting, his muscles throbbed painfully from dancing and running, and he was so thirsty he'd downed three bottles of water, and yet he couldn't seem to wipe the smile of his face. To top off his perfect night, Elena told him she wanted to be with him, really be with him. Part of him was aching to tell her what had triggered the spell but he wasn't sure how she'd take it so he'd decided to wait until it had worn off. As they pulled into the driveway, Damon noticed lights on inside the house and he cursed under his breath.

"What's the matter?" she asked

"Someone's home and awake"

"Why is that a problem?"

"Because it's either Zach or Stefan or both and I'm not really in the mood for either one. The only familiar face I want to see until eight pm tomorrow is yours"

"Well then you run upstairs and I'll distract whoever it is"

"If it's Stefan, don't tell him about me being human. Actually don't tell Zach either"

"Why not?"

"If he knows he'll be jealous and I probably won't be able to stop myself from rubbing his nose in it. And Zach would probably take it as an opportunity to kill me"

"I don't know about Zach but I think Stefan would try to be happy for you. I won't say anything if you don't want me to, though"

"I think you underestimate the power of sibling rivalry" he told her as they approached the front door.

She rolled her eyes.

"Ok you go upstairs, I'll go make coffee and put the leftovers away"

"What are you going to tell Stefan?"

"That you spilled something on your shirt and you went to change. Where's your liquor? I'll grab us a couple of bottles"

"A better question would be where in the house is there _not _liquor? Pick a cabinet. You'll find a bottle of something"

"Alright then, are you ready?"

"Yep"

He shoved the door open and booked it for the stairs. Once he was safely in his room it occurred to him that he wouldn't be able to hear the conversation going on downstairs. It was the first time this evening that he'd wished for one of his vampire powers. Doing his best to ignore it, he yanked his shirt off for a fresh one and splashed his face with water while he waited for Elena. There was a soft knock on the door that he'd assumed would be her but when he opened it, he came face to face with his 'uncle' Zach.

"Oh, it's you" he said unhappily.

"I need to speak with you"

"Can it wait? I have company"

"That's why I need to talk to you. A man turned up dead in the woods earlier this evening. He had bite marks on his neck"

"Wasn't me, sorry"

"The girl you have downstairs, she's…" 

"Elena Gilbert; daughter of Miranda and Grayson who ran the Town Council until their untimely death almost four months ago" Damon finished for him.

"I'm warning you, if she disappears or is found dead…"

"You'll what? Expose me? Kill me? I'll kill you long before you ever get the chance to do either"

"I'm on vervain" the smaller man said, his voice shaking slightly.

"I don't have to bite you to kill you, Zach" he sneered.

Zach's face had gone red with anger and fear. Damon sighed. He didn't want the idiot to run off and tell Stefan he thought Elena was in danger.

"I'm not going to hurt Elena and I haven't killed anyone in weeks. Now get out before she comes back"

The other man opened his mouth to speak but thought better of it and slunk away down the hall. Moments after Zach had gone back to whatever hole he'd crawled out of, Elena appeared at the door with two travel mugs and a full bottle of whiskey tucked under her arm.

"I think we're ready and I didn't even see Stefan" she said.

"Good. Let's get the fuck out of here"

"Are you ok?" she asked, her brows furrowed.

"Yeah I'm fine. Zach knocked on my door and I thought it was you"

"Oh. Sorry you had to see him"

"Not your fault"

They crept quietly out of the house and back into the car.

"Where are we going?" she asked once they were on the road.

"I'm not sure. I'm kind of just driving until I feel like stopping"

"Ok" she said and took a sip of coffee.

"Waking up?" he asked.

"Yeah but I think it's mostly adrenaline"

"Junk food, coffee, adrenaline, and whiskey. We're going to have one hell of a hangover tomorrow"

"It'll be worth it" she said with a smile.

He gulped down the rest of his coffee and pulled off onto the side of the road. It was a country road in the middle of nowhere. There were woods on both sides of them and not a house in sight. If he'd been in this spot six months ago, he would have been patiently lying in the middle of the street waiting for some hapless victim to come along. Tonight, a human heart was beating in his chest and he had absolutely no desire to kill anyone. Well, maybe Zach but that urge had already passed. He was having too much fun to dwell on his moron of a relative.

"Where are we?" Elena asked

"I have no idea" he told her and got out of the car with the bottle of whiskey.

Leaving the headlights on, he sat on the hood of his car and she came to sit next to him a moment later. She'd picked out a good bottle and he uncorked it to take a swallow. He coughed a little, surprised at how much stronger it tasted when he wasn't using it to curb the blood cravings. It actually burned going down. Elena reached over and took it from him.

"Oh my god that's like liquid fire" she said and made a face after taking a long sip.

"Not gonna chicken out on me are you?" he said and took it back from her for another shot.

The alcohol was already hitting his system, his head was started to get fuzzy and he could feel it warming his blood.

"No way" she snatched the bottle from his hands and took a long swig.

The shot was way too much and the look on her face was priceless, with her nose scrunched up and eyes squeezed shut as she choked down the booze. She shook her head and shuddered as she pressed the back of her hand to her mouth. The chuckle bubbled up before he could stop it and Elena glared at him.

"Are you laughing at me?"

"Only a little" he said and tried unsuccessfully to wipe the smirk off his face.

"Ok Mr. Alcoholic Vampire, let's see you take a drink that big"

"Mr. Alcoholic Vampire?" he asked with a snicker.

"It's the best I could come up with at three in the morning after I just took a huge shot of whiskey, ok?" she said cynically.

"Fair enough. Gimmie" he grabbed for the bottle and she handed it to him.

He took a deep breath and chugged down at least three shots of whiskey in a single gulp. He managed to keep his cool for a few seconds but it was too much and he started to cough.

"Sonofabitch that's strong" he said through watery eyes.

Elena had her hand clamped over her mouth but he could see the laughter in her eyes.

"Think that's funny, huh?"

Her shoulders shook from the effort to suppress the laughter but it proved too hard and it burst out of her a moment later.

"I'm sorry…it's just your face…you looked so…" more giggles.

"I think you're a little drunk" he said.

She took a smaller drink from the bottle and winced.

"I think you're right" she said.

Damon watched her face, letting himself be mesmerized by Elena's smile and the way her eyes lit up when she laughed. He grabbed the bottle just as it was about to slip from her fingers and took down another shot before setting the nearly empty container on the ground. On impulse he grabbed her hand and pulled her around to face him. He'd caught her off guard and she stumbled into him. He didn't waste any time before covering her mouth with his. She tasted like whiskey and over sweetened coffee as she kissed him back. The alcohol was moving through his system like a fog creeping over his mind until the only thing in his line of vision was her. Elena was pressed up against him, her arms twined around his neck and her mouth moving lazily over his. His hands were moving idly, taking the time to memorize every dip and curve of her body.

They stood there making out for what seemed like hours until somehow her legs ended up around his waist and he was carrying her back to the car. They tumbled into the front seat with him sitting on passenger side and her on top of him while they deftly removed each other's clothing. Their hands and mouths touched, licked, and kissed every bit of skin they came in contact with. It took all of three minutes for him to be rock hard and desperate to be inside her. Apparently she was on that same page because the moment he was free from the confines of his jeans, she reached between them and joined their bodies. She groaned and held perfectly still before lifting her hips and sliding back down, impaling herself on his length again and again at an agonizing pace. Damon was on the verge of grabbing her and taking over when she started to move faster. Elena dropped her head to his shoulder and whimpered as her movements became frenzied. When he trailed his hand down her stomach to play with the sensitive spot at her center, she started murmuring his name like a prayer as she pulsed around him and came hard. Watching her come undone was hypnotically beautiful and he was only seconds behind her. His hands clutched her hips and pushed her down while he thrust upwards. She cried out again and crumpled on top of him as his release rumbled through him.

They stayed there for a while, just holding onto each other, trying to catch their breath. When he opened his eyes, the readout on his dash clock said 4:00 AM.

"'Lena?" he mumbled

"Hmmm?" she said against his neck.

"Are you awake?"

"Does barely conscious count as awake?"

He chuckled and reached down to lean the seat all the way back.

"I think we need a nap" he said and yawned.

"Right here?"

"Sure, why not?" he asked and grabbed his leather coat to put over them.

She adjusted so that she could stretch out and curl up beside him. Her hand groped around on the seat before she came up with her phone.

"I'm setting the alarm for two hours. We'll wake up at six and get more coffee" she said and set the phone down next to them.

"Perfect" he said and turned the head lights off before closing his eyes.

Two hours later the obnoxious beeping woke him from possibly the deepest sleep he'd ever had.

"Mmm, five more minutes" she grumbled and snuggled deeper into his shoulder.

"It's starting to get light out. We should probably put our clothes back on" he said and punched the 'dismiss' option on the device.

Elena hadn't moved or opened her eyes.

"Come on sleepy head, time to wake up" he murmured and tickled her neck with the tip of his finger.

She made an annoyed sound and slapped at his hand but missed and hit her own face instead. He let out a bark of laughter as her eyes popped open in surprise.

"You did that on purpose" she scowled at him.

"Worked didn't it?" he said and maneuvered himself out from under her.

She said something under her breath and started to hunt for her clothes. He'd pulled his pants and shirt on so he started the car.

"Wait! I can't find my shirt or my underwear" she said sticking her hand between the seats.

A very big part of him wanted to see what she'd do if he drove off while she was mostly naked but decided they were both too tired for games.

"Your shirt is in the back seat"

She peeked over her shoulder and retrieved the plum colored sweater.

"Ok now what about my underwear?" she asked as she pulled it over her head.

The lacy dark blue panties were in his jacket pocket and she wasn't getting them back. Not anytime soon at least.

"I dunno. Guess you'll have to go without them"

She narrowed her eyes at him but yanked the jeans on over her bare ass.

"I know you have them. Those are my favorite pair and I'm taking them back"

Damon said nothing. He just smiled and started down the road back toward the boarding house.

"Can I shower at your house? I feel like I stink" she said sniffing at her shirt.

"Yeah, of course you can. We could probably both use one"

By the time they got back to the boarding house and showered it was 8:30 in the morning. They made a full pot of coffee and drank it while munching on their left-overs from the night before.

"I don't know if I've ever been awake for a full twenty-four hours" she commented absently, still sounding slightly groggy.

"Only twelve more hours to go" he said sadly.

"I'm not complaining. That was the best night of my life and this is going to be the best day ever" she promised.

"How are we going to top last night?" he asked seriously and took another gulp of black coffee.

Stefan and Zach were still upstairs and Damon was hoping to get out of the house before they came down. _Stupid human ears…_he thought.

"Um…what about a theme park?" she suggested.

"Like roller coasters?"

"Yeah" she said with some excitement in her voice.

He'd only ridden roller coasters a few times because immortality seemed to take all the fun out of it. There was no risk so there was no thrill. Today, that was not the case.

"That's brilliant" he told her with a wide smile.

"I'm ready when you are"

Damon grabbed the two travel mugs and filled them with coffee.

"Let's go" he said.

"Can the fries come?" she asked and held up the half full to-go box of French fries

"In my car?" he whined.

Elena pouted at him and he shook his head in defeat.

"No ketchup!" he said sternly.

She jumped happily to her feet and followed after him. They were almost to the car when she halted.

"Crap, my phone is on the table. I'll be right back" she told him and bounded back inside.

"You and the damn phone…" he muttered.

**S**he was almost to the front door when she heard the stair behind her creak. _Damnit! _

"Elena?"

It was Stefan. She put a smile on her face and whirled around to greet him.

"Hey, Stefan"

"Did you stay here last night?"

"Um…no" she said awkwardly

"Have you slept? Not to be rude but you look kind of tired"

"Ahhh…it's a long story"

A car horn came from outside.

"Damon's waiting. I have to go but we'll talk later, ok?"

"You'd tell me if there was something wrong, wouldn't you?" he said with concern.

"Yes, absolutely. Everything is fine, I swear"

"Ok…" Stefan sounded unconvinced.

"We'll be back around eight tonight so I'll talk to you then, ok?"

That seemed to put his mind at ease and he nodded. Elena raced out the door before he could say anything else.

"What took you so long?" Damon demanded as he sped out of the driveway

"Stefan caught me"

"Yikes. What'd he say?"

"He just wanted to make sure I was ok"

Damon looked at her for a long moment with a furrowed brow. He went silent for a while and stared at the road ahead of them.

"I feel like I need to tell you something. I haven't told you because I felt like it wasn't my place. Who knows? Maybe he didn't tell you for a reason. I'm guessing it was because he didn't want to tell you he's a vampire and since that cat's out of the bag, I think I should just tell you"


	8. Chapter 8 - All Good Things

**As of now, I can neither confirm nor deny the possibility of a pregnancy. You'll just have to keep reading and see what happens ;-) (I know, I'm so mean) **

**That being said – I love, love, love hearing your theories and ideas! They have been known to change my mind from time to time **** I know some of you will be sad to see Damon change back into a vampire but this chapter is kind of where the action starts so I hope you think I've done his human day justice and stay with me for the less fluffy parts of the story. **

**xoxo **

**Chapter 8 – All Good Things **

The words rambled out of his mouth and she looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"No more coffee for you" she said and took his mug.

He laughed but sobered quickly.

"I really do need to tell you something"

"Ok, go ahead" she smiled at him.

"Stefan saved you the night we met. He must've been closer than me because I didn't hear the crash until it was too late. I saw him dive in and pull you out. He went back for your parents but…"

Her heart clenched at the mention of her parents but suddenly her surviving the crash made so much more sense. No one had ever been able to figure out how she'd gotten out of the car and she made a mental note to talk to Stefan about it very soon. She wanted to know how it had happened and she owed him a thank you for saving her life.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because…I don't know…I felt like you deserved to know"

"It doesn't change anything" she whispered.

"I know but…I don't want us to have secrets"

"I guess I can appreciate that. Anymore bombs to drop on me?"

He hesitated.

"Not presently"

"Damon…"

"Later, I promise"

She caved the moment he stuck his lip out and batted his eyelashes at her. Elena knew she wouldn't be able to deny him anything today.

"Ugh fine" she huffed and sat back in her seat with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Aw cheer up, Pouty. We're going to ride roller coasters"

Her mouth turned up in an involuntary smile. She loved roller coasters and he sounded so excited, it was infectious. Somewhere along the way the exhaustion took over and she closed her eyes. Then next thing she knew Damon was gently shaking her awake.

"Did you have a nice nap?" he asked with a smirk.

Elena looked out the window and realized they were at the amusement park and it was already 11:30 in the morning. Only nine more hours.

"Oh no I fell asleep! Why didn't you wake me up?"

"You're cute when you're sleeping and I know you needed it"

"You could probably use a nap, too" she commented

"I'll sleep when I'm dead" he said cynically.

It was so unfair that he couldn't stay like this forever. He seemed to have made his peace with it but she knew he was dreading the evening. Putting on her game face, she smiled at him.

"Ok well then let's go ride some roller coasters" she said with all the pep she could muster.

"How about some soda and then a roller coaster?" he suggested

She nodded.

"A really big soda"

Damon paid for their tickets and they made their way through the gates. It was a gorgeous day, the sun was bright and there wasn't a cloud in sight. Elena had been coming to this place for years but she had a feeling today would be different. She wasn't wrong. From the moment the first coaster took off down the hill, he was smiling.

"This was an amazing idea" he told her after the fourth coaster.

"I'm glad you're having fun" she said and swayed into him.

She was feeling a little dizzy after the last one.

"You alright? Maybe we need some water"

"That sounds good"

"Do you want to leave?" he asked

"No, Caroline hates roller coasters so we usually take breaks in between them. Four in a row just made me a little nauseous"

They found a bench and he got her a bottle of water.

"Will you do me a favor?" he asked her when he sat down next to her.

Elena raised an eyebrow at him.

"When I'm a vampire again and I tell you I want to come back here, don't let me. It will ruin it"

Her heart broke for him. She'd thought about trying to find a way to extend the spell or make it last forever but it had seemed like a waste of precious time. This felt very…Cinderella-ish. There was no way to stop the carriage from turning back into a pumpkin.

"Ok" she agreed glumly

Damon gave her a little smile.

"Feeling better?"

"Much" she told him and handed him the half-full bottle of water.

He took down the rest of it and went to get them two more.

"Water tastes _so _good right now" he told her and handed her one of the bottles.

He sat back down and fiddled with the ornate ring on his finger. After a few minutes, he pulled it off his finger entirely and stared up at the sky with his eyes closed.

"I have another favor" he said, his face still turned upwards.

"You're kind of needy" she told him with a smile.

"Yeah, but I give as good as I get" he said, peeking out at her from the corner of his eye with a half smirk.

"Ok, ok. What's the favor?"

"Put my ring on your necklace and _do not _lose it"

"Of course" she told him and held out her hand.

"If you lose this ring, I'm screwed tomorrow" he said seriously.

"I promise, I won't lose it. What is it?"

"It's what lets me walk around in the daytime on any other day but this one"

The seriousness of it hit her and she almost hesitated.

"I'll guard it with my life" she told him earnestly.

"Nothing is worth your life but I appreciate the sentiment"

They rode two more roller coasters, ate more junk food, and then rode the rest of the rides that the park had to offer. By the time they both agreed they couldn't take anymore, it was 3:15 PM. The unfairness of it all started to hit her on the way home. By the time they got back to Mystic Falls, it would be 6:00 PM and they would only have a couple of hours left.

"Penny for your thoughts?" he asked.

"This isn't fair to you, Damon"

"What isn't fair?" he asked.

"This gift feels like a tease. You just get a taste and then it's taken away. It's unfair"

"Yes it is. It's more than fair. Don't feel bad for me, Elena. I've done terrible, unspeakable things in my many years on this earth. Today is more than I ever could have hoped for, more than I ever deserved"

She nodded and tried to accept it but it was hard. She didn't know that part of him yet. The bad part that had taken countless lives. She knew that in some ways she was attracted to him because he was dark and enigmatic but she had to keep reminding herself that he was lethal, a killer, someone that any sane person would be frightened of. And still somehow, she'd never felt safer than when she was with him.

"You can give me the ring back if you want" he said as the sun started to set.

Digging into her shirt she pulled out the necklace and clasped it in her hand. She peeked into her palm and made a mock gasp. His gaze shot instantly over to her and she gave him her best 'oh no!' look.

"Damon, I'm so sorry"

"You didn't…"

His face was pure panic and it was taking everything she had to keep her face straight. She let him sweat for a few more seconds.

"Of course not!" she said finally and dropped the locket and ring out of her palm.

"You're going to pay for that" he said seriously and held out his hand.

She passed him the ring with wide eyes. Another twenty minutes went by before the Mystic Falls sign came into view and she heard him sigh. There was nothing to say so she placed her hand over his on the gearshift and watched the road ahead of them. They pulled up in front of the boarding house at 6:10 PM.

"So do you know exactly when this going to be over?" she asked him, a knot forming in her stomach.

"I think 8:00 or just before"

"What do you want to do?" she asked him quietly

"I don't know"

"We could just lay out here and look at the stars" she said.

"You're full of good ideas today"

They got out of the car and laid on the hood with their heads resting on the windshield. She told him what she was planning on wearing for the 50's dance and he told her he would make sure she looked authentic. They talked about their next date and how they were going to sleep all day tomorrow. Anything except what was about to happen. After a while he checked his phone and frowned.

"I'm going to be right back" he said and slid off the car

"Where are you going?" she asked anxiously

"I don't know how…hungry I'm going to be so I'm going to get something from the fridge downstairs"

"Oh" the knot in her stomach got tighter.

Damon returned with a water bottle full of dark liquid a few minutes later.

"How much longer?" she asked

He showed her his phone. 7:45, her heart sank and she pursed her lips.

"Don't you dare cry, Elena" he whispered as he settled himself back down next to her.

"I won't" she promised.

His arm went around her shoulder and she rested her head on his chest.

"Best day ever" he murmured into her hair.

**K**nowing that magic always came with a price, Damon was half afraid he would die all over again right in front of Elena. He thought about insisting that she leave but he couldn't stand the idea being without her right now. Fortunately Emily knew what she was doing and all he felt was and unpleasant icy sensation running through his veins. He was freezing for a half a minute and then he felt the craving and his nose smelled the fresh blood flowing through the creature snuggled on his chest.

"Elena" he said through his teeth.

"Hmm?"

"You need to get up"

"What?" she sounded hurt.

There was no time. He felt his face change as he jumped off the car with the bottle in his hand and flashed to the front door. With a growl, he tore at the cap and poured the contents down his throat. It helped but he could still smell her, hear her heart pounding, and sense her fear. It was tormenting the monster in him and his hands were shaking from the effort to stay away from her. She had crawled slowly to the other side of the car, wisely keeping silent but he figured he had about ten seconds before the vampire took over and he killed her. He listened and heard Stefan upstairs in his room.

"Stefan!" he shouted.

His brother was there a second later.

"Whoa, Damon. Calm down. What's the matter?"

"Get her out of here" he snarled and dashed inside.

"_What the hell was that?" Stefan demanded _

"_You'll have to ask him" she told him, her voice trembling. _

He silently thanked her for keeping it to herself but obviously he was going to have to explain it now. He supposed he could play it off like he just lost control but he doubted Stefan would accept that answer. Thirty minutes later he heard his car pull back into the driveway. He'd downed four blood bags with numerous bourbon chasers and his mood was much improved. Stefan found him in the library on the couch in front of the new TV that wasn't on.

"Do you want to tell me what that was all about?" his brother asked.

"Not really but since you're you and you won't let it go until I do…I got to be human today"

"I'm sorry, what did you just say?"

"It was a thing with Emily Bennett. I don't feel like explaining it all but the gist of it is that there was a spell and I got to be human for twenty four hours and it started at eight last night. Apparently when that happens and you turn back into a vampire, you're rabid"

"Are you fucking with me?" Stefan asked seriously

"Nope" he said with a 'pop'.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because you're boring and I wanted to have fun"

"You could have told me"

"I was trying to be _nice, _Stefan. I didn't want to rub your nose in it"

"But now you're going to?"

"Probably"

His brother pursed his lips and nodded.

"Is she ok?" Damon asked, his brows knit with worry

"You shook her up but she's tough. She'll be alright"

"I was trying really hard not to scare her" he said pitifully, staring down into his drink.

"I've noticed. I told Zach to leave"

Damon sat up in surprise.

"Why would you do that?" he asked skeptically

"Because he annoys you and you seem to be trying really hard to not kill people. Why tempt fate?"

He got up and poured a glass of bourbon for his brother.

"Why the sudden change of heart? I thought you wanted me gone"

"I did. But whatever is going on with you and Elena has changed you. I'm ok with not getting the girl if I get my brother back"

Damon's face softened and he handed the glass to his brother.

"You mean that?"

"Are you done with the eternity of misery?"

"Yeah that got old a few decades ago"

"Then yes, I mean it"

"Cheers, brother"

They clinked glasses and sat down to do something other than argue for the first time in at least twenty years.

**T**woweeks later, it was the night before the decade dance and Elena had been at the school all evening. Caroline had ordered pizza so they could stay until it was done and she'd had to cancel her date with Damon. By the time they finished it was almost ten and just as she'd said her goodbyes to Bonnie and Caroline, she felt a familiar _woosh_ behind her. She stopped.

"Damon?" she called.

They kidded with each other but she didn't think he would intentionally scare her. Not after what had when he changed back into a vampire. He kept apologizing and she kept telling him it was ok. It had scared the crap out of her but he hadn't hurt her. Thinking back on it she realized how hard it must've been for him to fight his instincts to keep from hurting her and it made her like him even more. There was no answer so she continued to her car and pulled out her cell phone. She thought she might spoil his trick with a ringing phone but he picked up on the second ring and the parking lot was silent.

"Hello, gorgeous"

"Hey, where are you?"

"At the grill, hoping you'd call me after your decorating thing"

"So you're not in the school parking lot?" she asked as she climbed into her car.

"Why would you think that?" he asked with an edge to his voice.

"I just felt the _woosh _thing that happens when you move really fast"

She turned the key in her car and nothing happened. She was officially nervous.

"Damon, my car won't start"

"Lock your doors. Don't move"

"Please don't hang…" but he was already gone and she was starting to freak out.

An almost imperceptible blur flashed past her window and she sucked in a breath. There was definitely another vampire out there. It happened again on the other side of her car and she yelped in fear. It wasn't Damon and she was pretty sure Stefan wasn't the type to mess with her like this. Then she remembered a man in the street who she had watched stand up and shove his broken bones back into place. Panic set in. He was back to get her. She sat there spring-spring loaded in terror for what felt like an eternity until there was a tapping on her window and she screamed. When she peeked over she saw Damon's worried blue eyes peering in at her. _Oh thank god _she thought and scrambled to unlock the door. The second it clicked open she wretched the door open.

"Hey, hey you're ok. It's ok" he said when she fell into his arms.

"There was another vampire here. I saw it, Damon"

"You saw it?"

"It looked exactly like what you did in the kitchen with the super speed"

"Ok, we'll find it" he said looking around the lot.

He let go of her and rounded the car to pop the hood.

"And then what?"

He peeked around the hood and gave her a pointed look.

"Do you have to?" she whined.

She hated the idea of killing anything.

"Do want me to have to follow you around and protect you all the time?"

"You have an annoying habit of answering questions with questions" she said with narrowed eyes.

He ignored the comment.

"So you're just going to kill anything that threatens me?"

"Pretty much, yeah"

She sighed and decided she didn't want to argue about that right now.

"Do you even know anything about cars?"

"Not really but Stefan does and he should be here in…right now"

A second later the little red Porsche pulled into the lot.

"Car trouble?" he said as he hopped out.

"Something like that" she said and shivered at the memory of the blur flying by her window.

"We have a vampire problem" Damon told him.

"What kind of vampire problem?"

"Like there might be one stalking Elena"

"Do you have some kind of vampire target on your back?" Stefan asked her, only half joking.

She shrugged lamely. He looked at the engine for a half a second and then dropped down to the ground to peer under the car. A moment later he came up with a strangely shaped object in his hand.

"Not going to get very far without your distributor cap"

Stefan re-affixed the thing to the engine and when she turned the key, it started right up.

"Thank you, Stefan. Jenna will kill me if I destroy another car"

"No problem" he said with a sympathetic smile.

"Want me to follow you home?" Damon asked.

"Yes please" she said, still feeling a little shaky.

He walked her to the door when they got to her house and she waited on the porch until his car rumbled away. The moment his taillights disappeared she started to feel panicky again. _Pull it together _she told herself and went inside.


	9. Chapter 9 - Family Ties

**Here's where, as they say, the plot thickens. Things are about to get interesting in Mystic Falls and I do so hope you enjoy it as much as you've enjoyed the previous chapters. I don't want to give anything away so I'm going to shut up. I can't wait to hear your thoughts!**

**xoxo**

**Chapter 9 – Family Ties **

She was about to crawl into bed when there was a tapping at the window. Her heart stuttered before she saw that it was Damon. She unlocked the window and let him in.

"What are you doing here? What if Jenna catches you?" she whispered.

"Then I'll compel her to forget I was here. Relax. I just wanted to tell you that Stefan and I are going to be outside all night so you don't need to worry about anything, ok?"

"You don't have to do that" she said but instantly felt safer.

"Yes I do. If I go home I'll be worried about you all night and end up out there anyway. At least one of us should get some sleep"

"Thank you, Damon. Tell Stefan I say thank you, too" her voice shook and she chided herself so being so scared.

"C'mere" he said and held his arms out to her.

Elena happily buried her face in his chest and breathed a sigh of relief. He stood there and held her for a few minutes before planting a kiss on top of her head.

"Go to sleep. We'll be right outside"

She let go of him reluctantly. When she stepped back she caught his eyes sweeping down her body with a little smirk.

"Is that what you're wearing to bed?"

Looking down at her pajama shorts and tank top, she frowned.

"Yeah, what's wrong with my PJ's?"

"Not a damn thing" he said and pulled her in for a long kiss.

Damon ended the kiss and sighed before disappearing out the window. She crawled into bed with a smile on her face. The alarm on her phone sounded at 7:30 am the next day and she smacked at it until it stopped. When she rolled over there was an unfamiliar, albeit welcome, weight next to her and she snuggled into it. It took a minute but when she managed to pry her eyes open, she found herself curled up on Damon's shoulder and he was looking down at her with a particularly smug smile on his face.

"Look who's finally awake"

He was propped up on her bed with his hands behind his head.

"How long have you been here?" she asked sleepily.

"Since Jenna and Jeremy left about an hour ago"

"You've been watching me sleep for an hour?"

"Actually I've been on the roof most of the night so I've been watching you sleep for nine hours"

"If you were any other guy on the planet that would be super creepy"

"So what were you dreaming about?" he asked suggestively.

"Nothing" she told him quickly and rolled over to get up.

"Nothing?" he asked.

Like most of her dreams, it had been about him but there was no way she was going to tell him that. The last thing he needed was an ego boost.

"I don't really remember" she told him as she dug for socks in her dresser.

A millisecond later he was behind her, trapping her between him and the dresser with his mouth pressed to her ear.

"You're a terrible liar, Elena" he murmured.

Her breath caught in her throat.

"I'm late for school" she told him weakly

"No you're not. You don't have a first period"

"I will be if we do what you're thinking about doing"

"What am I thinking about doing?" he asked with mock innocence, his knuckles just barely brushing over the sliver of exposed skin on her back.

There was nothing more she would like than to jump back into bed with him and let him do whatever was currently on his mind, but she had a dance committee meeting and Caroline would be livid if she missed it. Gloomily she wriggled away from him.

"Damon, I can't. I have a decade dance thing in thirty minutes that I can't miss"

"The decade dance is officially on my shit list" he said and pouted at her when she closed the bathroom door.

He was still there when she got out of the shower and now he was going through her underwear drawer.

"Damon!" she said and snatched a pair of red lacy panties out of his hand.

"How come I've never seen those before?" he asked

"I'll wear them for you tonight, ok? But right now you have to let me get dressed. Please" she begged.

"Ok, ok. I'll behave…for now"

"Maybe you would go make me a cup of coffee?" she asked in her sweetest tone and he glared at her.

"You're lucky I like you"

He plodded downstairs and she got dressed in a hurry. If he came back and she was naked, she was done for.

"Elena…" she heard Damon call from downstairs.

He sounded alarmed so she bounded down the stairs two at a time and found her Uncle John standing in the foyer with a crossbow pointed at Damon who was standing in the hallway. She bolted across the room and stood in front of Damon.

"What are you doing here? Are you insane? Put that thing down!" she yelled at her uncle.

"Elena, get away from him. You don't know…"

"That I'm a vampire? Yes, actually she does. So unless you're going to shoot _her_, I suggest you put the crossbow down"

John made no move to lower the weapon and she heard Damon let out an exasperated sigh.

"I promise I won't kill him, ok?" he whispered very quietly to her.

Then he was gone from behind her and the crossbow flew out of John's hand and landed in the living room. She dashed over to retrieve it and by the time she'd picked it up, Damon had her uncle pressed face first against the entryway wall with his arm twisted behind his back.

"What do you want me to do with him?"

Her mind raced as she tried to think. John's visits were thankfully few and far between but when he did show up, he always stayed too long for Elena's taste. She couldn't imagine what he was doing here now.

"I don't know" she said helplessly.

"Who is he?"

"My Uncle John"

"You never mentioned an uncle"

"Jenna and I like to pretend he doesn't exist"

"Elena, please listen to me. Vampires can control you mind so whatever he's said to you is a lie" her uncle pleaded with her.

"I'm wearing vervain" she told him snottily

"I could just knock him unconscious" Damon suggested.

She disliked the idea of hurting her uncle, even if he was a complete ass, but she really didn't see any other options.

"Ok…" she said hesitantly.

"It was nice to meet you, John" Damon snarled sarcastically before whirling him around to punch him in the face.

John dropped to the floor in a heap. Elena held the crossbow out to Damon like it was diseased.

"Will you take this please?"

"I think you should hang on to it. You've got that whole Lara Cross Tomb Raider thing going for you. It's kinda hot"

She scowled at him and he smirked at her before crossing the room to take it. With a few quick flicks of his fingers, he disarmed it and removed the wooden arrows that were loaded into it.

"What the hell is he doing with a crossbow?" Elena asked, looking down at her unconscious uncle.

"Did I forget to tell you that the men in your family hunt vampires?" he said off hand and meandered back toward the kitchen.

"Yeah I think you might have left out that little detail" she told him with her hands on her hips.

"Oh. Well, now you know"

"Damon!" she said and stormed into the kitchen after him.

"Don't 'Damon' me. How was I supposed to know that you have a crazy crossbow wielding uncle? I thought Jeremy was the only Gilbert male left and he clearly isn't carrying on the family legacy"

"How do you even know about the vampire hunting thing?"

He gave her a long look and she raised her eyebrows at him.

"What?" she asked confused.

"A few of them may have been stupid enough to come after me" he said quietly and turned on the sink to wash the coffee pot.

"And what happened to them?"

Another long look and raised eyebrows.

"Oh"

It hadn't even occurred to her that he might have killed her relatives but she supposed she shouldn't be surprised.

"It was a long time ago, Elena"

"I know" she said uncomfortably.

He put the coffee pot down and came to wrap his arms around her.

"Please don't be mad" he begged

"I'm not mad…it's just weird, that's all. I'll get over it" she told him and returned the embrace.

"Your uncle is going to wake up soon. We have to do something with him"

Damon let go of her to fix her a cup of coffee.

"I know" she said glumly

"I could just keep knocking him unconscious but it might cause brain damage eventually"

"Enough brain damage to make him forget you're a vampire?"

"Probably not. Look, you go to your dance meeting and I'll get Stefan to come over and help me with your uncle"

"Promise you won't cause any permanent injury" she said staring seriously into his eyes.

"I promise" he said and handed her the to-go mug.

"And you're still coming to the dance, right?"

"I'll be there"

"Ok, I'll see you tonight then"

She leaned up on her tip toes to give him a kiss and dashed out the door.

**T**his whole not killing people thing was really cramping his style. Damon heaved a sigh of annoyance as he looked down at the unconscious man in Elena's entryway. He'd searched him and found a small stake strapped to his ankle and another much larger one inside his jacket pocket. This guy didn't mess around. Stefan showed up ten minutes after Elena left and walked into the house.

"Points for not killing him" his brother commented as he came to stand next to him.

"Thanks. Who invited you in?"

"Jenna, a couple weeks ago"

Damon nodded.

"So…thoughts, suggestions on this?" he said waving down at John

"Actually yes but I think we should take him back to the boarding house. Pull your car around to the garage. I'll tie him up and we'll toss him in the trunk"

"Works for me"

Once they had John at the house, they tied him to a chair in the living room and waited for him to wake up.

"I have something I need to tell you. Don't be pissed, I just found out yesterday and I haven't had a chance to talk to you until now" Stefan told him as he plopped down on the couch

"Ok…"

"I've been looking into the Elena/Katherine connection and I think I found at least one piece of the puzzle"

Damon looked at his brother in surprise. Obviously he hadn't forgotten about it but he hadn't given it much thought since Elena had crashed her car.

"Do tell"

"Elena is adopted and this man" he gestured toward John "is her biological father. Her birth certificate shows Miranda and Grayson Gilbert as her mother and father but there's no record of Miranda ever being pregnant with or giving birth to a baby girl. Eighteen years ago a teenage girl named Isobel Flemming spent a summer in Mystic Falls and had a fling with John Gilbert. Nine months later, Miranda and Grayson welcomed Elena into their family"

"You've been a busy boy, Stef"

"Oh but wait there's more. Several years ago Isobel Flemming became Isobel Saltzman. That probably doesn't mean much to you…"

"Isn't that your history teacher's last name?"

"Ok maybe it does mean something to you. Yes, it is and Isobel was his wife. Two years ago Isobel mysteriously disappeared and was pronounced dead. I've searched high and low for her but it's like she fell off the face of the planet"

The image of a petite woman with dark hair and sea green eyes passed through his mind.

"I think I know what happened to her" he said

Stefan raised his eyebrows in shock.

"You do?"

"Can I trust you Stef?"

"Of course"

"I mean it. You have to let me explain this to Elena"

"Yes, Damon you can trust me"

"I turned her"

"You're joking"

"I wish"

"Jesus, Damon…"

"I know, I know! She came to me and asked me to turn her a couple of years ago and…well what can I say? She was charming"

"You have a serious thing for the women in Elena's bloodline"

"Tell me about it"

"So back to my initial point; we have a bargaining chip with our friend here. I imagine if he's hid it from her for this long, he won't want her to find out about it now"

Damon smiled at his brother. Sometimes he forgot that Stefan could be as diabolical as he was.

"It's moments like these that I think we might actually be related"

The man in front of them started to groan and his eyes fluttered open.

"Where am I?" he mumbled

"Casa Salvatore" Damon told him.

"I'm on vervain" he said nervously

"We figured" Stefan told him.

"What are you doing with my niece?" he demanded of Damon

"Your niece? Don't you mean your daughter?" Damon sneered at him.

John's face fell and he swallowed thickly.

"How do you know about that?"

"Does it matter? What matters is that we know about it and you'd rather Elena didn't"

"What do you want?"

"A truce" Stefan told him.

"Fuck you. I don't make deals with monsters" John spat.

"Then I'll just call Elena now and have her come over so you can explain everything. How do you think you'll take it? Personally, I think she's going to be super pissed" Damon told him as he dug his phone out of his pocket.

"Wait!"

He put the phone away and looked at John expectantly.

"What kind of truce?" he asked.

"You deal with the fact that I'm dating Elena and accept that I have absolutely no intention of harming her in any way shape or form. In exchange we'll let Elena go on thinking you're just her uncle"

"I want you to stay away from my family" he hissed

"Not going to happen"

John looked furious, his face was red and his nostrils were flaring.

"Then there's no truce"

"Fine have it your way" Damon grabbed the roll of 'just in case' duct tape he'd grabbed and slapped a piece on John's mouth.

Not one to make idle threats, he plucked his phone back out of his pocket and dialed Elena. She picked up on the third ring.

"Hey, is everything ok?" she asked.

"Kind of. Can you come to the boarding house?"

"Sure…no one is bleeding, right?"

"Nope, no bloodshed…yet" he teased

"Damon…" she said darkly

"Kidding"

"I'm leaving now so I'll be over in a few minutes"

"See you soon"

He ended the call and looked over to see John frantically shaking his head and making 'mmmm' sounds through the duct tape.

"You had your chance. Now she's going to hate you even more than she already does"

Stefan double checked the knots binding John to the chair before they meandered off to get a drink and wait for Elena. She arrived twenty minutes later and Damon led her into the parlor. John was slumped forward with his eyes closed.

"Did you knock him out again?" she asked

John's head snapped up in answer to her question and she jumped in surprise.

"So, do you want to tell her or should I?" Damon asked him.

"Tell me what?"

John shook his head again with a depressed look on his face.

"Guess that means he wants me to tell you. Why don't you sit down?"

She eyed him suspiciously but took a seat on the couch.

"Can you take the duct tape off? It's really weirding me out" she said and looked pityingly at John.

"In a minute" he said gently and took the seat next to her.

Stefan walked in with a file in his hand and sat on the other side of her.

"Ok you guys are really starting to freak me out. What's going on?"

"Stefan has been looking into your connection to Katherine and he stumbled upon some…interesting information along the way. There's really no good way to say this so I'm just going to say it. Elena, you were adopted"

Her mouth fell open and moved like she wanted to speak but couldn't find the words.

"How…how do you know?" she whispered finally.

"There's no record of your mom ever being pregnant with or giving birth to you" Stefan told her

"But mistakes happen with paperwork, right? Maybe someone just misplaced the records"

Stefan shook his head 'no' and opened the folder. He gave Damon a pointed look before continuing.

"Eighteen years ago John was still living in Mystic Falls. A girl named Isobel Flemming was here staying with friends one summer when she started dating John. A few weeks after they started dating, she became a patient of your fathers and his records for her are incredibly vague. Then nine months later your parents announced they had a new baby but no one remembers Miranda ever being pregnant"

"Are you saying that he" she looked at John in disgust "is my biological father?"

Damon nodded and took her hand.

"What about my birth mother?"

"I have some information about her. If you decide you hate me…well I can't promise that I'll understand or accept it but I'll try"

"I could never hate you" she told him earnestly.

"How about you reserve judgment until I finish the story? A few years ago I was approached by a beautiful, intelligent, and extraordinarily charming woman. She wanted to be a vampire and she convinced me to turn her. Her name was Isobel"

"As in the woman you just said gave birth to me?"

He nodded somberly.

"Are you sure?"

"Pretty sure, yeah. Elena, I'm so sorry. If I'd known…" he said lamely

"She asked you to turn her into a vampire?" Elena asked with anger in her voice.

"Yes, she did"

"And he knows about all of this?" she asked, inclining her head toward John.

"I don't know. John, did you know I turned Isobel into a vampire?"

John shook his head "no".

"You didn't know who turned her, but you knew that she's a vampire didn't you?" Elena demanded.

John stared at her for a long moment before nodding his head "yes".

Her expression was unreadable and her eyes kept flicking up to the man tied to the chair at the center of the room. Suddenly she jumped up and stomped over to John.

"I am never going to forgive you for this" she hissed and slapped him soundly across the face.

_**A/N: If you've stuck with The Parting Gift this far, I really can't thank you enough. You've all been so kind and your support means everything to me! This one's got at least another six chapters to go, probably more…I hope that's good news for anyone reading this :) **_


	10. Chapter 10 - First Blood

**Opinion request: are the chapters in this story too short/too long/just right? Just curious **

**After this chapter, things are really going to start to pick up on the plot as a whole so I just want to say thank you again for your support and staying with The Parting Gift. I really hope you enjoy the latest installment! Until next time…**

**xoxo**

**Chapter 10 – First Blood **

Damon prepared himself for the same treatment but when she came back to the couch, she sat next to him and rested her head on his shoulder. Surprised, he put his arm around her and pulled her close.

"I don't hate you" she mumbled

"Why?" he asked, genuinely baffled.

She lifted her head to look at him.

"You didn't know she was my mother and it's not like you turned some innocent person into a vampire. She came to you. I know that can't have been easy to tell me and I appreciate that you didn't lie to me. Unlike some people…" the last part came out laced with bitterness.

He gazed at her in wonder.

"I don't know what I ever did to deserve you but whatever it was, I'm glad I did it"

She gave him a tiny smile before turning back to her 'uncle'. He looked utterly dejected and he felt the tiniest bit of sympathy for the man. Elena evidently didn't feel the same pang of empathy. She got up again and abruptly tore the piece of tape off John's mouth.

"Do you have anything to say for yourself?" she demanded down at him.

"Miranda and Grayson were going to tell you. We were all going to tell you when you turned eighteen but then they died and I couldn't…I'm so sorry, Elena"

"Sorry doesn't cut it. I want you to leave and never come back"

"I can't do that. I can't leave you here with them" he inclined his head toward Stefan and Damon.

"You can and you will if you ever want me to even consider forgiving you"

"I can live without your forgiveness. I can't live with you becoming a vampire"

"Who said anything about me becoming a vampire?"

"Don't you see? That's what he wants and in the end that's how you'll end up"

"You have no idea what I want" Damon said angrily and stood up

"You're going to stand there and tell me you don't have any plans to turn her?"

"Yes as a matter of fact I am. I would never do that to her"

"Even if she asked you to?" John asked him.

That gave him pause. Elena had never expressed any interest in becoming a vampire and he'd never thought about what he'd do if she asked him to change her. In all honesty he had a hard time seeing himself denying her anything she wanted, especially if she told him she wanted to be with him for the rest of eternity.

"That's what I thought" John said arrogantly.

Damon pushed the thought away and turned back to Elena.

"Under other circumstances I would just kill him but since he's related to you, I'm deferring to you for a decision. What do we do with him?"

"What _can_ we do?" she asked

"Lock him in the basement until the vervain is gone and then compel him to leave" Stefan said.

A panicked look washed over John's face but he said nothing.

"Will that work?" Elena asked doubtfully.

"Depends on whether he's ingesting it, wearing it or both" Damon replied and examined John thoughtfully.

"How can you tell?" she asked nervously.

Damon crept near the man and sniffed at him.

"I don't smell any vervain on him so he's drinking it. You should probably go, this isn't going to be pretty" he told her.

"What are you going to do?"

"Make sure he's not wearing it and then keep him in the basement until it's gone"

"But how will you know when it's gone?"

"I have to bite him, Elena"

"I'm staying" she said resolutely and sat back down on the couch.

"'Lena..." he said in a warning tone

"People are expecting me, the council knows I'm coming" John blurted out frantically.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Damon said and ran his hand over his face.

"We're going to have to do this the quick and dirty way" Stefan told him.

"You mean _I _have to do this the quick and dirty way" he said to his brother.

"What's the quick and dirty way?" Elena asked.

"You don't want to know" he told her

"They're going to drain my blood until the vervain is gone, feed me their blood and then compel me"

Elena turned to Damon with wide eyes.

"Is he right?" she demanded angrily

"You don't want me to kill him or cause any permanent damage. If you have a better idea I'm all ears, baby" he said with poorly concealed annoyance.

"I don't like this" she said and crossed her arms nervously over her chest.

"Neither do I but we do what we have to in order to survive" Stefan told her quietly.

"You think this is a good idea?" she asked sounding shocked.

"Maybe not a good idea but the only viable one" he told her.

"Damon is right, Elena. You should leave" John said.

"No. If I'm going to make the decision then I have to stay. I can't agree to this and then run away like a coward"

"You're just like Grayson. He never walked away from a tough situation" John commented with a hint of pride.

"You don't get to talk to me about them anymore" she said resentfully.

John's shoulders sagged and he appeared resigned to his fate. Elena stared at him for another moment before facing Damon with a resolved look on her face.

"Do it. Just promise me he won't die"

"We won't let him die" he assured her.

She nodded and pulled her phone out of her purse.

"I have to check in with Bonnie and make sure everything is ok for the dance. Although I'm not sure how I'm supposed to enjoy the dance with this happening"

"It'll be over before the dance starts" he told her.

She still looked worried as she walked off to the kitchen to make the call.

"I'll get the bucket" Stefan said and pushed himself up.

"And I'll show our guest to his room" Damon said with a cold smile.

He didn't even bother untying him from the chair. He just grabbed the back of it and dragged him all the way down the stairs.

"You can't make her happy" John told him icily as Damon patted him down again to check for vervain on his clothes or a hidden trinket that might be laced with it.

He noticed an ornate ring on his finger and touched it to see if it burned him. It didn't but he took it off and stuffed it into his pocket anyway, just in case.

"You don't know that" he said but the words hit home.

"Yes I do. She's bright and compassionate. You're a monster who kills people"

Damon glared at him and wished he hadn't promised Elena that John wouldn't die. Stefan appeared a minute later with a white bucket that had liter measurements on the inside and a very sharp kitchen knife.

"Ready?"

"Let's get this over with" Damon replied.

Stefan put the bucket underneath John's left wrist and handed the knife to Damon before leaving the room. Vervain or no, his brother couldn't stand the smell of human blood. Carefully, Damon adjusted one of the wrists that were tied to the arms of the chair so that it faced upwards and then tightened the ropes.

"This is going to hurt" he said unapologetically.

Damon nicked John's arm and licked a drop of blood off the knife. It burned his tongue and he spat it out onto the dirt floor. _Yep, definitely drinking it_ he thought and cringed at the vervain aftertaste. John hissed in pain as Damon carefully pressed the tip of the blade into the artery just below his thumb. Blood started to pour steadily into the bucket and Damon stood back to wait.

"If she stays with you, she'll end up dead. You know I'm right" John said weakly.

Damon clenched his jaw but stayed silent.

"Maybe you really do care about her, maybe you even love her, but humans who get involved with vampires end up dead or they turn into vampires themselves. Tell me I'm wrong, tell me you don't know what I'm saying is true" the bleeding man rasped as his head lolled forward.

"You should save your strength or you might accidently bleed to death" Damon told him coolly.

He tried to think of a situation where a human had made it out of a relationship with a vampire unscathed but nothing came to mind. It hurt to admit it but John was right. In all likelihood, if she stayed with him she was doomed. He didn't know what to do about it though since the idea of living without her was too painful to even consider. Damon peeked over the edge of the bucket and noted that he had about a liter left before he had to feed John his blood. He heard light footsteps coming down the stairs and he whirled out of the room and slammed the door before Elena could see inside.

"Damon I need to see him" she said when she saw him guarding the door.

"No" he told her firmly

"Why?"

"Because he's bleeding into a bucket and you don't need that in your head. Go upstairs and we'll be up in a few minutes"

"I'm going to wait here" she said stubbornly.

He gave her a ferocious look and slipped back inside before John exsanguinated. The bucket was full to the 1.5 liter mark and John's breathing was getting shallow. Damon gave it another thirty seconds before biting into his own wrist and yanking the man's head back to force it into his mouth. The wound on John's wrist healed instantly and the color slowly started to creep back into his cheeks. The moment he could hold his head up on his own Damon leaned down and sunk his fangs into the John's throat. He gave a shout of pain before Damon pulled away and licked his lips. The vervain was gone and it had been too long since he'd had fresh blood. The temptation to drain him was almost uncontrollable.

"If Elena wasn't right outside that door, you'd be dead" he snarled.

John didn't say anything but Damon could sense his fear and it teased at the monster in him. He took a controlled breath and put his face in front of the other man's. He knew exactly what question John would not want to answer.

"Where is Isobel?" he compelled.

"I saw her with Katherine about six months ago" John said automatically and then his eyes went wide.

"Katherine?" Damon whispered

That was the last thing he'd been expecting to hear.

"Why isn't Katherine in the tomb?" he compelled again.

"She seduced the guard and escaped" John replied.

"She's been out this entire time?" he asked, white hot anger seeping into his brain.

"Yes"

"Why are you here?"

"Zach Salvatore called to tell me you were dating my niece and I came to kill you"

He needed out of this room or he was going to kill John and then go hunting for Zach. Maintaining eye contact, he used the full force of his compulsion.

"You came to town to check on Elena and Jeremy. Elena brought you here to introduce you to me and as soon as we leave the basement, you're going to forget everything that happened down here. Stefan and I are not vampires and you think I'm too old for Elena. Now tell me why you came to town"

"To check on Elena and Jeremy"

"Good"

Damon forced another little bit of blood down his throat to cure the wound on his neck and untied him. He opened the door to find Elena sitting on the ground just outside. She looked nervous.

"Get him upstairs" he said curtly and stalked off to the blood cooler.

He tore into a blood bag and heard Elena help John up the stairs. He gulped down one more blood bag and zipped up the stairs. Elena had John on the couch and he still looked a little weary.

"Uncle John isn't feeling well. I'm going to take him home to lie down" she said.

"I'm sorry to hear that. It was great to meet you, John" Damon said in the nicest possible tone he could manage.

John stood up and held his hand out to Damon.

"It was nice to meet you too, Damon"

He shook hands with the man cordially and watched as they left the house. The moment he couldn't hear the engine in Elena's car he collapsed on the couch. It had been a long time since he'd felt bloodlust like this. All he could think about was the taste of _fresh _human blood. His brother's hand appeared next to his face with a large glass of whiskey and Damon took it gratefully.

"Fight it" Stefan told him, as if he could read his mind.

"What if I can't?" he said miserably and gulped down the entire glass.

"You can. I know you can. Do it for her, for Elena. She needs you, Damon"

"Katherine isn't in the tomb" he said quietly.

"What?"

"John said he saw her with Isobel a few months ago"

"But…how is that possible? We saw them drag her away"

"In typical Katherine fashion, she seduced the guard and escaped"

"And she's never contacted either of us?"

"Not unless you've been holding out on me"

Stefan grabbed the decanter and poured another finger of bourbon for both of them before sitting down next to Damon.

"What a bitch" Stefan declared.

"I just can't wrap my head around it. I spent the better part of the last century looking for ways to free her and hating you for ruining my chances with her. How could she do this to us?" Damon said and threw back the bourbon.

There was no part of him that wanted to be with Katherine anymore but she had to know that he'd been pining after her all these years and it stung to realize she cared so little for him.

"To hell with Katherine, we're better off without her"

"I'll drink to that" he said and reached for the decanter.

"Don't forget about the dance. We can't get wasted"

"Shit, I forgot…Can I borrow some of that stuff you put in your hair?"

"Sure. Caroline and I are going as friends and she's getting ready at Elena's so we can go pick them up together if you want?"

"Fine by me" Damon agreed.

Stefan went upstairs to shower and Damon stared longingly at the decanter of bourbon. _Just one more won't hurt… _he thought and got up to pour himself another glass full. By the time Stefan came back downstairs, he was on bottle number two. He couldn't help himself. The booze was the only thing stopping him from killing someone. Between the things John said, the taste of his blood, and the news about Katherine, he was barely holding it together.

"Damnit Damon, you aren't even dressed" Stefan growled at him.

"Dressed for what?" he asked and took another gulp.

"The dance you idiot!"

"Oh yeah…fuck…"

"Go take a shower _now _and drink some blood so you can sober up a little"

"I'm not sure I should go…" he said.

Just the thought of being around all those humans had the blood rushing to his eyes.

"Oh no, you are not bailing on this. If I'm going to this thing then so are you. Get your ass up and get ready"

"You're bossy" he said and narrowed his eyes at his brother.

Damon slowly got to his feet and made his way up the stairs. When he got out of the shower he felt marginally more sober and in control. Stefan knocked on his door with two blood bags.

"Thanks" he said and tore the top off the first one to suck down the contents.

"Where the fuck is my white t-shirt?"

"You don't own a white t-shirt"

"I used to"

"In 1953?"

"Is this supposed to be helpful?" he snapped.

Stefan rolled his eyes and disappeared for a half a minute before returning with a white t-shirt and a bottle of hair gel.

"Here, now get ready and meet me downstairs in ten minutes or we're going to be late"

Damon snatched the things from his brother's hands and gave him a snarky smile.

"You're welcome" Stefan said and plodded down the stairs.

After globbing some of the gel into his hair and combing it back, he put on black jeans, the borrowed shirt and his leather jacket. He checked himself in the full length mirror and decided he was doing a pretty decent job of channeling James Dean. The bourbon was almost out of his system but he still felt a little bit tipsy so he drank the other bag of O-Neg Stefan had brought up for him and went downstairs.

"Finally" Stefan said.

His little brother was wearing a red and white letter jacket with a collared shirt that was tucked into his tan slacks. He looked like he should be sharing a milkshake with a busty girl in an over buttoned cardigan. Damon tried, he really did, but there was no stopping the laughter that burst out of him.

"Oh man, that outfit just made this whole night so much better"

"Shut up. Caroline wanted to wear a poodle skirt so I agreed to wear…this" he said and stared unhappily down at his clothes.

"Think she'll let you hold her hand at the soda shop?" Damon asked with a smirk as they headed towards his car.

Stefan gave him a dark look and got in the passenger seat. Damon drove them to Elena's and to both their surprise, the girls were ready to go in the living room. Elena had on Capri jeans and a blue button up. Her hair was pushed back and up by a headband and she had a little scarf tied around her neck. She didn't look like a square but she didn't look like a greaser chick either. She was perfect. Caroline looked like she ought to be snapping bubble gum and singing along to Buddy Holly next to a juke box but, if nothing else, she was authentic. With the yellow cardigan and obnoxiously patterned hoop skirt, she and Stefan looked like the perfect Square couple.

"You girls look great" Stefan said and they both beamed.

"You guys do, too!" Elena said and she jumped up to kiss Damon.

She gave him an odd look.

"Have you been drinking?" she asked quietly while Stefan helped Caroline into her coat.


	11. Chapter 11 - Do You Hear What I Hear?

**You are all such phenomenal readers! A thousand thank you's for continuing to send me your feedback. Your reviews are what keep me typing! This one went a teeny bit on the long side…since some of you said you wouldn't mind that :) **

**Some serious TVD hijinks are about to go down and I am super excited to hear your reactions to this chapter! **

**xoxo**

**Chapter 11 - Do You Hear What I Hear?**

He stared down at her astonished.

"How did you know?" he whispered back.

"It's your eyes. They look a little…unfocused"

This girl never ceased to amaze him.

"I'm fine" he said with what he hoped was a reassuring smile.

"You'll tell me about it later?"

Damon nodded and slid his fingers into hers as the four of them walked out the door. Maybe it made him a terrible person but he knew right then that he couldn't let her go. There was absolutely no way in hell he could live without her.

"We are going to look so cool rolling up in this car!" Caroline squealed when she saw the Camaro.

"It's from 1969 not the 50's, Caroline" Elena told her with a kind smile.

Damon grinned at his girl for knowing what year his car was.

"Whatever, we're still going to look cool" she said and hopped into the back seat with Stefan.

Caroline was right, when they rumbled into the school parking lot several heads turned and stared.

"Told you" the blonde said with a self-satisfied smile.

When they walked into the crowded gym, Johnny Be Good was playing and he swung Elena immediately onto the dance floor. She gave a little squeal of delight when he spun her around in a circle and then tugged her back against his chest. Damon dipped her and when he pulled her back up she was laughing. It had been ages since he'd danced with a girl he actually enjoyed being with and he decided that maybe high school dances weren't the worst thing in the world.

"Are you bored to tears yet?" she asked when a ballad came on.

He was guiding them lazily over the dance floor with one hand resting on a chaperone approved spot at her waist and the other with its fingers laced in hers.

"No, actually I was just thinking this isn't half bad. I get to dance with the most beautiful girl in the world and this time there's actual music instead of deafening techno"

Elena's face lit up and he snuck in a quick kiss before resting his head against hers. She slid one arm up his back to wrap around his shoulder as they moved in a slow circle.

"Poor Caroline, I don't think she believed Stefan when he told her he didn't dance" she commented as they came into her line of vision.

He rolled his eyes when he saw Caroline with her arms crossed over her chest and Stefan standing next to her looking uncomfortable with a cup of punch in his hands. His brother knew perfectly well how to dance and Damon had never understood his aversion to it. If nothing else, it was a good excuse to put your hands on a pretty girl in public.

"Should I ask her to dance?" he asked.

_Did that just come out of my mouth? _he thought.

"Would you really do that? She looks miserable and it would definitely cheer her up"

"Sure" he said.

_You've gone soft, Salvatore _his brain scolded him.

Once the song ended, they made their way through the crowd and over to the punch bowl.

"You guys look so cute out there" Caroline commented, managing to sound half-way genuine.

"Thanks! But I need a break" Elena feigned exhaustion and ladled herself a cup of the peach colored liquid at the center of the table.

"Well I'm not tired. Caroline would you like to dance?" Damon asked and held his hand out to her.

"Really? Elena you don't mind?" she said with a mixture of relief and excitement.

"Not at all"

The perky blonde was a surprisingly good dancer and he let her talk him into a second song. He couldn't help but take pity on her. Even after all these years, Stefan could still be an awkward teenager.

Elena had moved over to the bleachers to talk to Bonnie and the second song was nearly over when his ears picked up the sound of her ring tone.

"Hello?" she answered.

"_Hello, Elena" _

He didn't recognize the voice so he focused his hearing on the conversation.

"Hi. Who's this?" she said and got up to move toward the back of the gym where it was quieter.

"_Don't you remember? You hit me with your car" _

Rage burned fiery hot in his veins. This bastard had a lot of nerve.

"_You look real pretty all dressed up for the dance. How come your brother didn't dress up?" _

"What do you know about my brother?" he heard her whisper into the receiver.

"_I know you have five minutes to ditch your vampire escort and meet me in the cafeteria or I'll snap his neck before you can say 'boo'." _

The song ended and he bit out a thank you to Caroline for the dance before making a beeline for Elena. Her dark brown gaze was searching the crowd frantically.

"Damon…" she said when he got to her side.

"I know, I heard. Jeremy is over by the snack table" he told her quietly and inclined his head toward the boy who was dressed in head to toe black looking almost as awkward as his brother.

Elena started toward him but her phone rang again and she answered immediately.

"_Ah-ah-ah, don't even try it. I'll kill him right here, right now, in front of everyone and I'll be gone before any notices that he's dead" _

The caller hung up again. Damon saw a stocky looking guy in a hoodie standing not five feet from Jeremy and he cursed under his breath. He navigated the two of them behind the speaker where The Everly Brothers were belting out Wake up Little Susie in hopes of concealing them and their conversation from the other vampire.

"I'm going to distract him. Get Jeremy out of here" she said quietly and started to walk away.

"No way" he grabbed her arm.

"I can't let him hurt my brother, Damon"

Stefan had edged his way over to them while Caroline chatted with Bonnie.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Our vampire friend is back" Damon told him.

"Where?" Stefan asked and casually looked around.

"Over by the snack table. He's threatening to kill Jeremy unless Elena meets him in the cafeteria"

"What's the plan?"

"There is no plan" Damon said

"Yes there is. I'm going to run and he'll follow me. Damon, you come after me and Stefan, you get someone to take Jeremy home" she whispered.

"We are not using you as bait, Elena" Damon snarled.

"Ok then what's your brilliant plan?" she asked, hands on her hips.

He clenched his fists and fought the urge to throw her over his shoulder and drag her away as far away from this gym as he possibly could.

"Damon, I hate to admit it but she's right." Stefan told him

His mind whirled as he tried to think of another solution but everything he thought of ended up with a dead Jeremy and he knew that wasn't an option. With a heavy sigh, he put his hands on Elena's cheeks and stared urgently into her eyes.

"When you start running, you go as fast as you can and don't look back. Do you hear me?"

She nodded and he could feel the fear radiating off of her. _At least she has the good sense to be scared _he thought. She pressed a kiss into his palm and walked away though the crowd. Peeking over her shoulder at her brother and the hooded figure standing near him, she worried at her bottom lip and pushed through the double doors that led to the hallway. The second she was through, he heard her take off in sprint. He saw the flurry of movement out of the corner of his eye and counted to three before chasing after them.

"Elenaaa, come out, come out wherever you are" the other vampire taunted in the hallway.

He couldn't hear her footsteps anymore so she must be hiding somewhere. Pausing he listened for her breathing the same way he knew the other one was. He found her hiding in a classroom. _Seriously, a room with only one exit? _She should know better than that. Then he heard her moving again. She was running full speed down the hall. The vampire started to chase after her and his footsteps mixed in with Elena's. Suddenly there was a terrified shriek that came from the cafeteria and he sped off in that direction. The vampire had backed her into a wall and was about to open her neck when Damon burst through the doors. It was enough of a distraction for Elena to shuffle carefully out of reach and the moment she was a safe distance away, he flashed to where they were standing and threw the other vampire across the room. When he landed, Damon noted curiously that there were two pencils sticking out of his chest and a broken broomstick on the floor. There was no time to ponder where they'd come from .The guy in the hoodie was on his feet in again and crouched down to attack. Damon didn't give him the chance. The guy was fast but he was faster and before he could move, he'd grabbed hoodie guy and kicked him in the kidneys before picking him up to chuck him against the far wall.

"Elena, run!" he yelled.

She tried to go for the door but the sonofabitch was too fast for her and he blocked her way, sneering at her as she backed away. He was about to try and grab at her when the door behind him flew open and knocked him on his face. Stefan put his foot on the guy's back and Damon snatched half of the broken broomstick off the floor. Reaching down and grabbing his collar, Stefan dragged the guy to his knees and Damon tossed him the stick. His brother jammed it through the vampires back and he screamed.

"About damn time" Damon said to Stefan as he walked over and looked down at the man.

"What do you want with Elena?" he demanded.

"She looks like Katherine" he sneered and looked longingly at Elena.

"How do you know Katherine?"

"Did you two think you were the only ones? That's so cute"

"Who are you? How did you find Elena?"

He smiled cruelly and said nothing. Stefan yanked the broomstick out of his back and handed it to Damon.

"What are you doing?" Elena asked sounding concerned.

"He has to die or he's just going to keep coming after you" Damon told her and Stefan nodded in agreement.

"But…"

He didn't let her finish before jamming the stick through the other vampire's heart. His skin went gray and Stefan dropped him.

"Damon!" she yelled.

"He wasn't going to tell us anything else" he told her unapologetically.

She stared down at the body uncomfortably.

"He's right, Elena. He wasn't going to give us anything useful and he had to die" Stefan said.

"I think I'd like to go home" she said quietly.

"You take her. I'll deal with this" Stefan told him.

Damon held his hand out to her and she took it. She was shaking all over and he could feel the stress coming off of her like a heatwave. He walked her over to Jenna, who was chaperoning along with Mr. Saltzman. As they got closer, supervising the dance looked a lot more like flirting but it stopped when they reached them and Elena told her aunt that Damon was taking her home because she wasn't feeling well.

"Are you alright, sweetie?" her aunt touched her arm.

"I'm ok, Jenna. Just an upset stomach"

"Ok, feel better"

Elena nodded and let Damon lead her towards the doors. Bonnie and Caroline caught her before they were outside.

"Hey! Where are you going? We just got here" Caroline whined.

"I have a stomach ache. Damon is going to take me home. Bonnie, could you give Care a ride home?"

"Sure. Are you ok, Elena? You don't look so great" Bonnie put a hand on her shoulder and then jerked away like she'd been burned.

Bonnie looked at Elena strangely and then up at him with a raised eyebrow. The little witch had seen something when she touched Elena and once again he found himself annoyed that she didn't know about her powers.

"Um yeah, I'll be alright. Thanks, Bonnie. I'll call you tomorrow?"

"Ok" Bonnie said and looked worriedly at Damon.

He gave her a small smile and a nod before putting his hand on the small of Elena's back to guide her out the door. Once they were in the car, she sat rigid and stared straight forward. He let her have a minute to collect herself but the second they got inside the house, he grabbed her and pulled her tight against him.

"You're safe now, you can let it out"

His words seemed to open the floodgates. Elena clung to him and sobbed for five full minutes before her breathing started to return to normal. She let go of him and looked up at him with watery eyes.

"Sorry you have to keep saving me" she said and sniffed.

"It's ok. I'm getting pretty good at it" he said with a lopsided grin.

She gave him a thin smile and then her face went pale.

"Elena?" he asked, worried.

"I think I'm going to throw up" she said and ran off to the bathroom.

He heard her puking a second later and rushed in to hold her hair back. Gently, he stroked her back as she emptied the contents of her stomach into the toilet. When she finished her skin was sallow and she looked exhausted. She let him carry her up to her room so she could brush her teeth and get into bed.

"Will you stay until Jenna and Jeremy get home? I don't want to be alone" she said once he had her safely tucked into bed.

"Sure, of course" he told her and lay down on top of the covers.

She snuggled into his chest.

"Did you stab that vampire with a pencil?" he asked her.

"It was two pencils" she said with a yawn and closed her eyes.

He grinned down at her. _That's my girl_ he thought with a strange sense of pride. She was asleep seconds later. Apparently he was pretty tired himself because the next thing he knew, the door to her room was creaking open. His eyes snapped to attention but it was only Jenna. He gave her an apologetic look and gently crept out from under Elena.

"I'm sorry, I'll go. She got sick and didn't want to be alone" he whispered as he left the room.

"Don't worry about it. It's nice that you stayed with her"

"Is John feeling better?" he asked, wondering where the man had gone off to.

"John?"

"Yeah, Elena brought him by to introduce me to him and he wasn't feeling well. Must be something going around"

"I didn't even know he was here. If we're lucky, he's already gone"

Damon doubted he was that lucky.

"She didn't seem all that happy to see him and I got the sense that he's a little overprotective"

"That's one way of putting it" Jenna said sardonically.

"Well if you see him, tell him I hope he's feeling better"

"Or I'll tell him to drop dead" she said.

He liked Jenna more and more every day. Damon gave her a half smile and said his goodbyes.

As he'd suspected, John was still in town the next day and he hadn't left the following day either. Jenna wasn't shy about her hatred of him so he stayed with the Lockwood's for two weeks and then left. Elena used the stomach bug she'd caught as an excuse to get out of seeing him for the most part but he'd stopped over for dinner once while Damon was there. It was one of the most awkward meals of his life. Jenna and Elena really did try to pretend he didn't exist and Jeremy was too high to manage anything but small talk before begging off to bed. At least the compulsion seemed to have worked since he told everyone he was here to check on his family. He was glad when Elena told him John was gone but he sincerely doubted they'd seen the last of him.

It was a lazy Sunday a couple of weeks after John left. He and Elena were lying on the living room couch doing nothing but enjoying the sunshine streaming in through the windows. Stefan was off hunting in the woods and it was blissfully quiet in the Salvatore boarding house. Then an odd sound pulsed in his ears. It was a tiny 'thud' and at first he thought it was Stefan heading back towards the house. A second later there was another tiny 'thud' and then another and another.

"Do you hear that?" he asked down at Elena, wondering if it was his vampire hearing or if it was coming from inside the house.

"Hear what?" she asked and peeked up at him.

It was a constant thumping and the harder he listened the closer it sounded. He scrunched his brows and then suddenly he realized where it was coming from. It was coming from Elena. He could hear her steady heartbeat but there was another one in between hers. Anger vibrated through him and he shoved up from the couch. Elena scrambled to right herself but ended up on her ass on the floor.

"Who have you been with?" he demanded.

"What?" she stared up at him bewildered.

"You heard me. Who have you been with?" he asked venomously.

"I don't understand…"

"Who have you been screwing around with, Elena?"

She shoved herself to her feet and narrowed her eyes at him.

"Are you joking? I've been with you"

Damon got in her face and stared down at her disdainfully.

"Don't lie to me"

A look of genuine hurt passed over her face. _And here I thought she was a shitty liar_ he thought.

"How can you say that to me, Damon? I haven't been with anyone but you"

"That's funny because you're pregnant"

Her eyes went wide and she shook her head.

"But…you said that vampires can't…"

"We can't which is how I know you cheated on me" he said venomously.

"Damon, I swear I didn't. Please, you have to believe me I would never do that. I…" tears popped into her eyes and he almost believed her.

"Get out" he said, his voice deadpan as he turned his back on her.

He sensed her standing there frozen and considered going full vamp to scare her away. There wasn't a cell in his body that wasn't blistering with anger and still he couldn't stand the idea of killing her but if she didn't go _right now_, he wasn't sure he could keep his monster in check.

"I said leave. Now!" he barked cruelly and she flinched.

**E**very part of her wanted to grab him and scream and cry and beg him to believe her. There was no one else. How could there be after him? She'd just admitted to herself a few days ago that she was in love with him. She was too scared to say it yet but she knew, deep down in her soul, that she was never going to feel for anyone what she felt for Damon. But Stefan's warnings about hurting him echoed in her mind and from the sound of his voice he was more than hurt, he was furious. So, in spite of everything she felt, she squared her shoulders and walked out the door. She got all the way to her car before the ache in her heart took over and she started to cry. Tears streamed down her face and the reality of what he'd just said hit her. How could she be pregnant? Actually now that she thought about it, she was _really _late for her period but how did he _know _she was pregnant? Her ringing phone made her jump and she looked down to see Bonnie calling.

"Hey, Bonnie" she answered, trying to hide her tears.

"Elena, are you ok? I just had this…feeling that something was wrong"

"Um, I'm not really sure. I'm having a really bad day…"

"Have you been crying?" Bonnie asked, sounding worried.

"Yeah, I had a fight with Damon" she replied and sniffed as more tears threatened to come up.

There was a blur of movement and then Stefan was next to her window making 'roll it down' motions. She held up her index finger for 'one minute' and pointed at the phone.

"Oh no, I'm so sorry! Do you want to come over and talk about it?" Bonnie asked.

"I can't right now but how about tomorrow after school?"

"Yeah of course. Come by any time"

"Ok, I'll text you before I come over"

"Ok, I'll see you tomorrow. Hugs!"

"Hugs back. Bye, Bon"

"Bye 'Lena"

When she hung up the phone, she rolled her window down and looked at Stefan miserably.

"I heard you crying. What did he do?" he asked, looking concerned.

Elena tried to speak but it came out in a blubber of tears.

"He…he said I'm pregnant and…and accused me of cheating on him" she gasped out between sobs.

Stefan stared at her for a moment.

"Hop out of the car for a second"

Desperate for any help, she opened the door and stood in front of him. Stefan closed his eyes and looked focused for a few seconds.

"Elena, I warned you about hurting him…" he said when he opened his eyes.

"So it's true? I'm pregnant? How do you know?"

"I can hear that baby's heartbeat"

"Stefan, please I'm telling the truth. I haven't been with anyone but Damon" she said and felt her lip start to tremble again.

He eyed her skeptically for a full minute and then his face changed to an unreadable expression.

"Holy fucking shit" he said matter-of-factly.

"What?"

"When was the first time that you two had sex?" he asked bluntly.

Elena raised her eyebrows at him, slightly offended at the question.

"It's important" he said urgently.

"It was last month. It was the night he was…" then it dawned on her "that he was human"

"Holy shit" she said.

"Yeah" he replied in awe and stared at her stomach.

A jolt of happiness shot through her. The baby was _his. _Now she just had to convince him.

"He won't believe me unless you help me" she told Stefan.

"I know. C'mon, let's go back inside"

She hesitated.

"Damon would never hurt you, Elena" he promised.

"I know but he was really mad, Stefan. I don't think he wants me anywhere near him right now" she said and eyed the front door warily

"I'm sure you're right but you need to be here" he said but gestured toward the door.

"You go first" she told him and moved behind him.

He rolled his eyes at her but opened the front door and she followed after him.

"I don't want to see her" Damon's angry voice sounded from the living room.

"Wait here" Stefan told her.

Elena nodded and took a seat on the bottom stair. She wished she had super vampire hearing so she could catch more than a snippet here and there.

"…_bullshit…" _in Damon's voice.

"…_human…how many times…?" _Stefan's voice.

"_Not possible…" _Damon.

"…_see her every day …talks about you non-stop…no one else" _Stefan.

Silence.

She knew it had to be her, she had to be the one to make him believe.

_**A/N: Sooo how'd I do? I know many of you were expecting this but I'd love to hear what you thought about the reveal and what's going to happen next! **_


	12. Chapter 12 - Reality Check

**Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who has reviewed, fav'd, and/or followed! All the support keeps me inspired and it's what keeps this story going. As always, I am anxiously awaiting your feedback!**

**p.s. - I only have about half of chapter 13 done so it might take me a tiny bit longer to post the next one. Please be patient! I promise to update as soon as humanly possible.**

**Xoxo**

**Chapter 12 – Reality Check**

Elena's fingers reached up and curled around the necklace at her throat. That wouldn't be good enough. She got up and went the long way around to the kitchen to retrieve the small, but wickedly sharp, paring knife. Taking a deep breath she made her way back to the living room where she found Stefan still arguing with Damon.

"I know you don't want to think it's possible but it is…" Stefan trailed off when he saw her.

"I thought I told you to get out" Damon said icily and turned around slowly to face her.

Damon's eyes widened when they landed on the knife. Stefan gave her an 'are you crazy?' look but she ignored him. Instead of answering she lifted her hands to unclasp her necklace and set it on the table next to her.

"Compel me" she said confidently.

Putting the blade to her fingertip she pressed down until a few drops of blood appeared. She scooped the blood onto the edge of the knife and held it out to him.

"You can test my blood. There's no vervain so you can compel me and make me tell you the truth" she could hear the desperation creeping into her voice.

Instantly he was in front of her, gazing down at her with his wild blue eyes. She stood her ground and stared back up at him with her pleading brown ones. He stayed like that for what felt like hours, trapping her with his gaze like he expected the truth to be written on her face. Finally, he reached over and took the knife out of her hand.

"I'm not going to compel you" he said softy, putting the knife down and picking up her necklace.

"Why not?" she asked hopelessly.

"Because I believe you" he told her as he reached around her neck to clasp the locket back around her throat.

"You believe me?"

Gently, he pulled her wounded finger up to his lips and kissed it.

"Yes"

"What changed your mind?" she asked.

She needed to know, needed to know that he really did believe her.

"A few things. You standing there with a knife in your hand for one. You scared the shit out of me."

"What else?" she persisted.

"You wouldn't be stupid enough take the necklace off if you weren't telling the truth. But I should have known you wouldn't lie to me to begin with" he said with an ache in his voice.

Relief flooded her and then she felt her whole body start to shake. More tears formed behind her eyes and she tried furiously to blink them back. _Oh god I'm pregnant_she thought miserably. She couldn't be pregnant. This was her senior year and she was going to college next year. A baby was not part of the plan. What would her friends think? Jenna was going to murder her…

"Elena?" Damon's voice cut through her manic thoughts.

All she could do was stare at him. There was no way to verbalize what was happening inside her head at that moment. His hands grasped hers lightly.

"Are you ok?"

She shook her head 'no' and he pulled her into his arms. For what seemed like the hundredth time since she'd met him, she broke down and cried against his chest. Except this time once she started she couldn't stop. Relief, terror, panic, sadness; they were hitting her all at once and it was getting hard to breath. Vaguely she felt Damon pull her away.

"'Lena? Can you hear me?" his hands brushed her hair back and cupped her face.

Elena tried to answer because he looked so scared but she was hyperventilating and she could barely breathe, let alone speak.

"I think she's having a panic attack" she heard Stefan say.

The next thing she knew she was on the couch and Damon had a paper bag to her face.

"You have to breathe, honey" he said gently.

She sucked in breath and exhaled into the bag. It took several deep breaths but eventually she got herself together and she pushed the bag away. Damon was kneeling next to her and Stefan was sitting on the arm of the couch. They both looked concerned.

"I'm ok" she rasped.

"Are you sure?" Stefan asked.

"No" she said pitifully.

Damon lifted her legs up to sit down on the couch and put her ankles in his lap. He didn't take his eyes off her and even though he'd said nothing, she knew what he was thinking.

"You want proof, don't you?" she asked him, knowing the answer.

He gave her a hard look and nodded.

"I understand" she told him.

It would have been naïve to think he would just accept it. Children had been an absolute impossibility to him for nearly all of his exceptionally long life. She was pretty sure that he really did believe her but she couldn't blame him for wanting to be absolutely certain.

"I don't know what to do" she said helplessly.

"Me neither" he spoke finally.

"That makes three of us" Stefan said.

"You have…options, Elena" Damon said carefully.

"No, I don't want that. I mean, unless that's what you want" she said, suddenly unsure that he would even want her to keep the baby.

"God no" he said sounding comforted.

"I think we should take you to a doctor" Stefan said.

"Ok" she said

That seemed like a good plan.

"When?" she asked

"Now?"

"Sounds good to me" Damon said.

"Oh" she said a little stunned.

"Is that ok with you?" Damon asked.

"Yeah, sure" she said uncertainly and swung her legs around to get up.

"We don't have to go right now" Damon said and took her hand.

"No, it's a good idea. This is just happening so fast. My head is spinning"

"I'm freaking out, too. We'll talk on the way ok?" he said and brushed his thumb over her knuckles.

Elena nodded and let him help her up.

"What am I going to tell Jenna?" she asked glumly when they were on the road.

"That we used protection but it broke? It's sort of the truth" he offered.

Actually that wasn't a bad idea. Her aunt was still going to be livid but it might soften the blow to know that they had at least tried to be safe.

"Ok, she might buy that" she said and nodded thoughtfully.

"My turn. Raise your hand if you _don't_ think I'm going to be the worst father on the planet" Damon said.

Elena put her arm up. Damon turned around and gave her a sympathetic look.

"That's sweet" he told her.

"I have to quit school when I start to show" she said.

"And I have to keep you, my vampire magnet girlfriend, safe somehow"

"I'll try to keep my vampire acquaintances to just you two" she said dryly.

"That would be helpful"

"Oh god I have to tell Bonnie and Caroline" she said more to herself than either of them.

"I guess I should find something productive to do or people are going to start to talk" he said contemplatively.

"Do you think I can still go to college?" she asked and instantly felt selfish for saying it out loud.

"Yes, absolutely" Stefan said.

"I'm going to outlive both of you" Damon said as though it had just occurred to him.

His voice was empty and sad. Elena couldn't think of anything to say to that so she fell silent.

They drove three towns over and Damon compelled a doctor to see her right away. They sat in an office that was painted a pleasant blue and there were magazines everywhere with happy pregnant women on the covers. She gazed at them and tried to imagine her perfect flat stomach with a watermelon sized bulge at the center. _Yikes_she thought and put the image out of her head. The nurse called her back five minutes later and Damon walked back with her. Elena hopped up on the exam table and Damon stood protectively next to her. Even without the leather jacket, he was intimidating.

"You can sit down" she told him with a ghost of a smile.

"I'm good" he said and looked at her with soft eyes.

God help her if the baby was a girl. A small woman with mouse brown hair, kind eyes, and a stethoscope around her neck entered the room a few minutes later. She started at the sight of Damon but collected herself quickly.

"Elena?" she said and smiled.

"Yep" she said with a heavy breath.

"I'm Dr. Daniels. How are you doing today?"

"I'm ok" Elena told her.

"The chart says we're pregnant. Have you seen a doctor yet?"

"No, we just found out today"

"Are your mom and dad here?" the doctor asked, noting her age.

"They passed away" she said honestly in hopes of killing the subject.

It worked and the doctor nodded.

"Do you know how far along you are?"

"Six weeks, two days" Damon answered for her.

"You're sure of that?" the doctor looked surprised.

"Very" he assured her with a thin smile.

Dr. Daniels nodded again and looked at Damon uncertainly.

"Are you dad?"

The stunned look on his face at the word 'dad' almost made Elena laugh but she bit it back. There was no doubt in her mind that he would answer the question with a 'yes' but she also knew that he still needed his confirmation.

"Compel her to tell us how long we have to wait for paternity" she told him so he couldn't go back on it.

Another shocked looked passed over his face before he forced he doctor to meet his eyes.

"You're going to forget she said that and you're going to forget I asked this. How long do we need to wait for paternity?"

"Eight weeks is the earliest" she said in a zombie tone and then shook her head.

"I'm sorry, where were we?"

"I was telling you that I'm the father" he said calmly.

"Right. I'd like to do a quick exam" she said and Elena nodde.

In a routine that Elena knew well, the doctor put her stethoscope to Elena's back and asked her to take a deep breath. After a few more deep breaths followed by some poking and prodding, the doctor finished the exam and smiled at them.

"Well Elena, you seem very healthy. Would you like to have an ultrasound? It will look like a peanut right now but you'll be able to see it"

"I guess so" Elena said.

"It's completely painless" the doctor promised and paged a nurse for the machine.

"While we're waiting, I see some of your information is missing. Do you have a phone number we can reach you at?"

Elena went to answer but Damon put himself between them.

"You don't need any personal information from her. When we leave, you're going to destroy every copy of her file that exists physically and digitally, then you're going to forget we were ever here" he compelled her.

The nurse arrived with the machine and Elena leaned back at the doctor's instruction. Her nerves felt raw and exposed as she pulled her shirt over her belly. Damon gave her a reassuring look and squeezed her hand. Then the cool gel was on her stomach and she felt the pressure of the scanner. Dr. Daniels moved the scanner around for a few seconds before stopping.

"There it is" she said and pointed to the screen.

_It really does look like a peanut_she thought and smiled. The whole thing was becoming very real very fast and she still wasn't sure what she was feeling but seeing the little blip on the screen had her awestruck. She looked up at the man next to her and her breath caught in her chest. Against unbelievable odds, they had made a baby together and something that felt oddly like happiness rolled through her. _Please God, let it have his eyes_she thought when he turned the smiling blue pools down to look at her.

"We'll be able to hear the heartbeat in a few more weeks but if you give me a few minutes I'll get you a picture of your little peanut" the doctor said.

Damon turned to Dr. Daniels with a glazed expression and a small chuckle escaped his lips. She patted his arm and gave him a knowing smile.

"Congratulations" she said and left the room.

The moment the doctor was gone, Damon grabbed both her hands.

"I don't need a DNA test" he told her.

"Yes you do. Maybe not today but you will and I don't want there to be a single doubt in your mind"

"Is this really happening?" he asked her

"I think so"

"You think so?"

"I'm as dumbfounded as you are. I don't even remember what day it is" she said.

He kissed her twice and nuzzled her nose with his.

"I'm sorry I was such an asshole earlier" he murmured with his forehead pressed to hers.

"It's ok" she murmured back.

"No it's not, but thank you for saying it"

She fought the urge to tell him she loved him and kissed him instead. The doctor came back with the print out a few minutes later and Elena put it in her purse. They collected Stefan and walked out.

"Well?" Stefan asked anxiously once they were on the way home.

"It's a peanut" she said and handed him the ultrasound picture.

He stared at it in wonder.

"What did they say about paternity?" he asked after a minute.

"We have to wait two more weeks" she told him.

"That gives me two weeks to come up with a good reason to ask Zach for his blood"

"Why Zach?" Elena asked.

"We technically don't have DNA since we have a mix of different blood types in our system. Stefan is half chipmunk." Damon told her with a grin.

Stefan punched his brother's arm but smiled.

"So what now?" Elena asked.

"Jenna" Damon said.

"No, not yet" she whined.

"Yes. You have to do it eventually and you might as well get it over with now"

She groaned unhappily but huffed in defeat. They dropped Stefan off at the boarding house and headed to her house. Once they were outside, her legs stopped working.

"I can't do this" she said sat back on the seat.

"Yes you can. I'm going to be right there with you"

"She's going to come completely unglued"

"I could compel her to stay calm" he offered and she smiled at him.

"Thanks but that wouldn't be fair to her"

"So…are we doing this?"

"Yeah, I guess we are" she said but still didn't touch the door handle.

Damon grabbed her face with gentle force and stared into her eyes.

"Whatever happens in there, I'm here. No matter what happens in your life, I'm here for you. Always"

She kissed him heatedly in response. He pulled away and his eyes flicked passionately over her face.

"I love you, Elena" he said in a hushed tone.

Pure joy filled every crevice of her person and she felt the incredible weight on her shoulders lift just a fraction. It wasn't the time and place that she would have picked but really when is the right time and place?

"I love you too, Damon" she said and smiled so widely her face hurt.

"Tell me I'm not dreaming" he whispered.

She reached over and pinched his arm. He scowled at her for a moment and then laughed.

"Thanks" he said sarcastically.

"Anytime" she replied with a mischievous smile.

"Are you ready?" he said and nodded toward the house.

"As I'll ever be" she said begrudgingly.

"Let's go scaredy cat"

"You're not scared at all?" she asked him skeptically

"Nope. _I_ can compel people not to be angry with me."

"That's not funny" she said and frowned at him

"It wasn't supposed to be" he said with a smirk and got out of the car.

**T**ruthfully, he was terrified. Not of Jenna but of the whole thing. He supposed every expecting parent was scared but he felt like this situation made the idea of parenthood especially terrifying. This baby, his baby, was human and so was its mother. A lifetime for them was going to feel like ten minutes to him. Not to mention the fact that he had the worst parenting role model of all time. His own father had killed him. How was he going to do this without completely fucking it up? He'd barely had time to even consider the nearly three lifetimes worth of enemies he'd acquired over the years. And the tickle of doubt in the back of his mind wasn't helping either. Watching her take off her necklace with a knife in her hand had settled most of the uncertainty in his mind but he'd accepted a long time ago that children were never going to happen for him. It just felt so utterly out of the realm of possibility, he needed that piece of paper to tell him that it was true. But even with all the madness that kept invading their lives, hearing her say she loved him had been the highlight of the last century for him. He literally couldn't remember the last time he'd heard a human being say "I love you". Maybe his mother before she died but that was a very distant memory.

"I changed my mind. Let's go back to the boarding house" Elena said as she stopped three feet shy of the porch steps.

"You stabbed a vampire in the chest with pencils. You can do this"

"I think I'd rather face another vampire than Jenna right now" she said and took a step back.

"Elena if you don't get your ass up those stairs, I'm going to pick you up and carry you inside" he told her darkly.

She gave him a long look like she was trying to decide if he was serious. With a sigh of defeat, she slogged up the stairs with him close behind. They found Jenna in the living room watching bad reality TV.

"Hey, Jenna" she said.

"Hey, you two! Have you seen this? It's horrible but I can't stop watching it" she said and turned around to look at them.

"Is this the one where they're addicted to eating weird stuff?" Elena asked and wrinkled her nose.

"Yeah it's really disgusting" Jenna said.

"Could I…we talk to you for a minute?"

Alarm washed over Jenna's face and she turned off the TV.

"Are you ok?" she asked.

He and Elena sat down on the couch together and he saw Elena swallow thickly. _Just say it and get it over with,_he willed her mentally.

"I'm pregnant" she said quickly and bowed her head.

Jenna's mouth dropped open and she looked back and forth between them.

"Please say this is a cruel joke" she said

Damon shook his head 'no'.

"How could you let this happen?" she directed the question at both of them.

"We used…protection but it must've broken" Elena said awkwardly.

"You used protection?" Jenna asked dubiously.

"I swear we did. Honestly, we thought there was no way this would happen" Elena promised.

"I knew I should have locked you in your room until you were thirty" she muttered.

Jenna turned her narrowed eyes to him.

"Do you have anything to say for yourself?" she asked angrily.

"Just that I'm going to be here for Elena and the baby, whatever they need"

Her gaze never softened and he found it surprising that she was being so hard on Elena. He thought she might be more understanding.

"So you've decided to keep the baby?" she asked tersely.

"Yes" Elena replied with quiet confidence.

"There's always adoption" Jenna offered.

"No" they both said in unison.

"Ok then. I need a glass of wine." Jenna got up and went to the kitchen.

Elena motioned for him to stay there and she followed after her aunt.

"Jenna I'm so sorry"

"I'm just glad your parents aren't here. They would so disappointed in you, Elena"

Damon watched her face fall and sadness creep into her eyes. Mentioning her parents was a low blow and he had to force himself to keep quiet.

"I know" she said and her lip trembled.

"How could you let this happen?" Jenna asked again.

Elena just shook her head and shrugged.

"This is just so…so…irresponsible. I thought I could trust you"

"It was an accident" Elena reasoned lamely.

"Yeah well this 'accident' might cost you your future. God, your mom would be so ashamed of you!"

That was about all the bullshit he could take from Jenna and he shoved himself to his feet to go stand next to Elena.

"If she would be ashamed of a daughter who was brave enough to come in here and tell you about this hours after she found out, then I'm glad I never met her" Damon snapped at her.

Jenna looked at him with annoyance.

"Damon…" Elena started.

"No, I'm not going to sit here and listen to her tell you that your parents would be embarrassed by you" he told her and then turned to Jenna

"Your niece is compassionate and smart and gutsy and any parent in their right mind would be proud to have her for a daughter"

Jenna set her wine glass down and gave him a hostile look.

"I think you should leave, Damon" she told him coldly.

"Not unless Elena wants me to go" he said and stared at her menacingly, daring her to try and make him.

"Then maybe you should just take her with you. I don't really feel like looking at her right now anyway" Jenna said and turned away from them.

Silent tears started streaming down Elena's face. Damon put his hand on the small of her back and directed her towards the door. Before they walked outside he turned back to Jenna who was pouring another glass of wine.

"You know what I think? I think your sister would be ashamed of _you_ for treating her child this way"

He slipped his hand into Elena's and walked out the door with her.


	13. Chapter 13 - Something Witchy

**I'm so sorry I kept you all waiting this long for an update! For some reason I kept going over and over this chapter. It's been a rough couple of weeks and I'm probably being overly critical. Any-hoo, I really hope you all enjoy the latest installment! By now you probably know that I live for your feedback and reviews keep me glued to this keyboard :) **

**xoxo  
**

**Chapter 13 – Something Witchy **

"I don't have any clean clothes" she said with a numb voice and swiped at the tears on her cheeks with the back of her hand.

"You go to the car and I'll grab you some clothes" he said.

"I don't want you to have to go back in there"

Damon gave her a small smile and faced the house. With a little push off, he jumped up to the roof and climbed through her unlocked window. Stealthily, he dug through her drawers and grabbed a few essential items before leaping back down to the ground. He handed her the pile of clothes and they got in his car.

"That went well" he said sardonically as they started back to the boarding house

"Thank you for standing up for me, Damon" she said with a sniffle.

"You're welcome. And don't worry too much about Jenna. She'll come around and I imagine she'll apologize"

"Why should she apologize? She's right"

"No, she's not. I didn't know your parents but I know they loved you, Elena. I'm sure they would have been angry and maybe a little disappointed but they would have stuck by you"

"I wish they were here" she said sadly.

He reached over and took her hand.

"Can you really hear the baby's heartbeat?" she asked.

He paused and found the faint thumping that was mixed in with her heartbeat.

"It's easier to hear when it's quiet but yeah, I can" he said with a half-smile.

"That's kind of surreal. Even the ultrasound can't hear that" she said

"It's pretty surreal for me, too"

"What's it sound like?" she asked.

"Like a really tiny heart"

She smiled for the first time since they'd left her house and started scrolling through something on her phone.

"This says the baby's heart _starts_ to beat around six weeks. I wonder if you heard its first heartbeat"

Now that he thought about it, the sound had just started out of nowhere. The idea left him elated and slightly overwhelmed. It still hadn't sunk in that she was carrying _their _child.

"I think I should call Jeremy before Jenna gets to him" she said and flipped to the phone part of the device.

The kid took the news surprisingly well and they agreed to have dinner together the following day. He sounded as annoyed with his aunt as Damon was.

"_I can't believe she kicked you out" _Damon heard him say.

To her credit, Elena was very diplomatic about it. She told Jeremy not to be angry with Jenna and that she would be home soon. He hoped for her sake the last part was true. He would love to have her move in with him but he knew she needed to be around her family more than ever right now. They found Stefan in the living room when they got back to the house.

"Hey, how'd it go?" he said when Damon walked in and looked startled to see Elena.

"Not well. Elena is going to stay here for a day or two"

Stefan nodded and gave Elena a sympathetic smile. She looked like she was trying not to cry again.

"I bet you're starving. How about I make you some dinner?" he offered, trying to take her mind off of the day.

"Ok, that would be good" she said with a forced smile.

She followed him into the kitchen and sat down at the table. He was about to ask her what she wanted but she might as well of had "OUT OF ORDER" written on her forehead. Her body was sagged forward with her elbows on the table as she dragged her fingers halfway through her hair and then left them there like she forgot what she was doing. After a few minutes of digging around in the fridge, he came up with chicken tacos. When he set the plate and a glass of water in front of her she looked startled for a moment before smiling up at him gratefully.

"Thank you, Damon" she said and picked up one of the tacos before pausing with it halfway to her mouth.

"Have you…eaten?" she asked cautiously.

The moment she mentioned it, he felt the craving and realized he hadn't had any blood since this morning.

"Actually, no I haven't. You eat here and I'll be back in a few minutes"

"Just bring it in here. It's your kitchen and I don't really feel like sitting here by myself"

"Are you sure?" he asked tentatively.

"I have to get used to it eventually, right?"

She was right. He couldn't hide in the basement and eat for the rest of her life. After he'd retrieved the blood bag from the cooler, he dumped the contents into a glass and sat down at the table with her.

Elena ate very slowly and sipped at the water.

"How are you feeling? You know, physically? I'm guessing the 'stomach bug' wasn't really a bug"

"Alright I guess. I have a really bad headache right now but I think that's just stress. The upset stomach is gone though"

"I'm sorry about all this. I wasn't thinking that night and this scenario never even occurred to me"

"It takes two to tango, Damon. I wasn't thinking about it either and I'm the one who's been through five years of Sex-Ed"

He took a long drink from the glass and caught her watching him.

"It's too weird, isn't it? You want me to go somewhere else?"

"No, no, it's not that. I have a morbid sense of curiosity and I was just wondering… What's the difference between that and…a person?"

Damon gaped at her in astonishment.

"Do you really want to know?" he asked.

"Yes and no. I want to know but I'm a little afraid of the answer. You know what they say about curiosity and the cat…"

"The answer won't kill you but it will probably creep you out"

"Tell me anyway. Now I need to know"

"Everything. It's like the difference between eating a package of ramen noodles and a big juicy steak. One you eat because there's either nothing else in the house or you're broke and the other is completely indulgent."

"So that's just…sustenance?" she said and inclined her head towards his glass.

"Yep" he confirmed.

Elena chewed at her bottom lip and gave him a strange look.

"What?" he asked

"I don't know…It's just…I don't want you to hurt people but personally I wouldn't want to live on ramen noodles"

"You're worth it" he said sincerely.

"Am I?" she asked.

"Definitely"

"Will I still be worth it when I look like a whale?"

He smiled at her affectionately.

"I'm sort of looking forward to the whale phase of all this" he told her.

She said nothing as she polished off the last taco and started picking at the crumbs on her plate.

"C'mon, let's get you to bed"

Damon gave her one of his t-shirts to sleep in and he replaced his normal birthday suit pajamas with a pair of boxers that had never been worn. When they climbed into his bed, she lay on her back and stared at the ceiling with a vacant expression. This was his fault, if she'd never met him none of this would have ever happened to her and he hated that he was responsible for that look on her face. So he told her the one thing he thought might have a shot at making her smile.

"Do you want to know what triggered the spell the night this happened?" he said and placed his hand lightly on her stomach.

She turned her face to look at him and he saw a tiny spark of interest on her face as she nodded.

"It was you, Elena"

"Me? How?"

Suddenly he understood why Sheila had hesitated to tell him. It sounded really stupid, even in his head.

"Apparently Emily was a bit of a romantic and she set it to go off when I kissed my true love"

"You're just trying to cheer me up."

"Scouts honor" he said and held up his first three fingers next to each other.

"Really?" there was still doubt in her voice.

"Yep, Disney would have_ loved_ her"

A wide grin spread over her face and her expression was the happiest he'd seen on her face since this morning when she walked through his door.

"We really are meant to be" she said, sounding awestruck.

"Seems that way" he told her with an equally broad smile.

She rolled over and curled into his chest.

"I love you, Damon" she whispered.

"I love you, too"

They laid there for a while but a half an hour went by and he could tell she was still awake.

"Can't sleep?" he murmured

"My brain won't shut up"

"Do you trust me?"

"Of course" she replied with certainty.

"You need to take off your necklace for this"

This time Elena didn't hesitate. She unhooked it from her neck and handed it to him. After tucking it safely under his pillow, he kissed the top of her head and prodded at her psyche with a power that had taken him years to perfect. He supposed her could have compelled her but this would guarantee she would get the deep rest he knew she needed.

"Close your eyes, take a few slow deep breaths, and try to relax" he murmured.

He listened to her inhale and exhale slowly three times. On the third exhale he slipped into her mind and searched out the 'happy place' that everyone had. It was harder to find that most. Probably because her thoughts were filled with so much else, but he had honed this skill and her tired mind was no match for him. Usually he was exploiting the 'happy place' for much more sinister purposes but this time when he found the house by a lake with a crackling fire, Damon put himself there with her to comfort her.

"_We're at my parent's lake house" Elena said with a smile and looked around. _

"_I didn't know you had a lake house" he replied as he moved to stand behind her and slide his arms around her waist. _

"_I haven't been here in a while" she said and leaned into his embrace._

Damon made sure there was no baby in the dream, or vampire stalker, or angry parental figures. With just them, the house, and the fire, her breathing was getting steadier and her mind was starting to settle down.

"_What's your favorite thing to do here at night?" he whispered in her ear. _

"_Lay by the fire with the window open and just listen to the lake and the forest" she said wistfully_

_Damon planted a kiss on her cheek and let go of her to crack the large window in the living room. She took the hint and gathered some pillows and blankets from the couch. Once they'd arranged them on the floor in front of the fire, they laid down together and cuddled into each other. The water outside lapped against the dock and somewhere in the distance an owl was hooting. Her head was resting in her favorite spot on his shoulder while he brushed his fingers lightly through her hair. _

"_Mmm, this is so nice" she mumbled _

Moments later she was sleeping soundly next to him and he was lying awake listening to the tiny thumping coming from her stomach. Damon still couldn't wrap his brain around the idea that they had created a life. Most of his unnaturally long existence had been spent taking lives and he couldn't stop thinking that he didn't deserve this, didn't deserve _them_. He'd promised to stay with her as long as she wanted him and he wouldn't go back on that but he worried that someday he would do something to ruin their lives. Like follow through with the nearly irrepressible urge to flip the switch so he could go lay in the middle of the road until some unfortunate victim came along and tear their throat out without a second thought. He looked at the sleeping girl who had irrevocably changed his life and clenched his jaw. He couldn't be here with her snuggled against him and think about murder at the same time. Gently, he reached around her neck so he could put her necklace back on made certain she was still asleep before he slipped out of bed and down the stairs to the living room. He left the lights off and poured himself a drink. He sipped at the bourbon in silence for an hour before Stefan came through the front door. Damon had heard him leave to go hunt bunnies while Elena was eating.

"Why are you sitting in the dark?" Stefan asked and flicked on one of the lamps

"Elena's sleeping upstairs" he said quietly

"I'm surprised she was able to sleep after today. I couldn't"

"She let me into her head"

Stefan got a glass of bourbon for himself and brought the decanter over to set on the table in front of them before sitting down next to him. His brother stared down into his glass for a few minutes before speaking.

"How…uh…how are you doing with all this?" Stefan asked.

Damon very nearly brushed him off with an "I'm fine" but, much as he loved Elena, he needed to confide in someone who understood what it was like to be a stressed out vampire.

"Honestly Stef, I'm barely holding on. I'd really, _really _like to turn it off and kill someone. Or several someone's. Instead I'm sitting here drinking bourbon in the dark because I couldn't lay there with her next to me and think about death"

"I know we haven't exactly been close since we turned so I don't know how much this means but…" Stefan paused and took a long drink from his glass.

"I'm proud of you, Damon. You've put a lot of the selfishness aside and today when you thought Elena had cheated on you…the old you would have killed her without a second thought"

The words meant more than he would ever admit. Their father had never once in his entire life told Damon that he was proud of him. Stefan was the only family he'd ever had and, even though they fought like rabid dogs sometimes, his brother's opinion mattered to him.

"I don't deserve her" he said softly.

Stefan gave him a hard look.

"Maybe not but you can try to be worthy of her. By some miraculous twist of fate, she loves you and she's carrying your child, Damon. This is everything we wanted and never got the chance to have. So spend every day fighting the urge to kill and be grateful for every single minute you get to spend with them"

He turned to his brother and smirked.

"You're going to be a much better uncle than I am a father"

"Oh, definitely"

"You're going to stick around, right?"

"Are you kidding? I'm going to be an actual uncle. I wouldn't miss this for the world."

**M**orning came way too soon for Elena. Groggily she forced her eyes open and heard the shower running in the bathroom. The read out on her phone said it was 8 am which meant she had to be to school in an hour. It occurred to her that since she wasn't at her house and there was no Jenna, she could play hooky if she wanted to. Class was really just a formality at this point. As long as she didn't give up entirely, she was going to pass and graduate on the honor roll. So she cancelled her alarm and closed her eyes again. A few minutes later she heard Damon pad quietly back into the bedroom.

"Hey there Sleepy Head" he sat on the bed and leaned down to kiss her cheek.

A smile crept over her face of its own free will and she opened her eyes. He was naked from the waist up and he had a towel wrapped around his hips. _It's completely unfair to the rest of the males on the planet for him to be this devastatingly attractive _she thought.

"Don't look at me like that, Elena or you'll never make it to school"

"I'm not going to school today" she said and pulled her lower lip between her teeth.

"Well in that case…" he said and yanked the covers off of her.

His mouth was on hers a moment later and his hands were halfway up her ribcage when he stopped and pulled away to give her a long look.

"I can't believe I'm saying this but I probably shouldn't encourage you to ditch school"

"Come on, Damon. After the day we had yesterday, don't we deserve a day off?" she whined and reached down to strip off the shirt he let her borrow.

Damon's eyes wandered over her bra clad torso hungrily but then he shook his head and scooted away from her.

"Yes but your aunt is angry enough as it is. I don't think a call from the school would go over well right now"

"If she wanted a say in whether or not I go to school then she shouldn't have kicked me out" she reasoned and reached over to put her hand on his thigh.

He stood up with a pained expression and went for the drawer she knew held his pants.

"I'm trying really hard not to be a bad influence on you. Go to school. Please" he begged.

"Are you really turning me down for sex?" she asked, honestly mystified and a little hurt.

His back was to her with the pants hanging half-unzipped around his waist when he turned to look at her with a groan. She stuck out her lip and batted her eyelashes shamelessly.

"Jesus, Elena…You're trying to kill me all over again, aren't you? You know I want you, I always want you. You barely touched me and look what it does" he said and looked pointedly at his crotch.

She followed his eyes and her mouth went dry when she saw that he was already hard.

"Then why are you putting clothes on?" she asked mournfully.

"Because clearly I'm a masochist!" he shouted and grabbed a shirt before disappearing in a blur of movement.

"No fair using super speed!" she shouted at the empty space where he'd been standing and resigned herself to a depressingly long day at school.

The conditioner was almost rinsed out of her hair when she felt a blast of cold air behind her.

"I changed my mind" Damon's voice was low, husky, and sent shivers down her spine.

Then he was behind her, pulling her back against his naked front and not wasting a second. His hand moved down her belly, between her legs, and found the sensitive bud at her center. Her head spun and spots danced in front of her eyes when he found _that _spot.

"This is going to be fast" he murmured against her ear while he touched her.

Elena barely had time to nod before he shoved her legs open with his knee and crouched down just enough to push his way into her when he stood up slowly.

"Damon, please…" she whimpered when he paused deep inside her.

One of her hands had fingernails digging into the pale arm that was holding onto her torso and she used the other to brace herself against the shower wall. Elena pushed back against him invitingly and she swore could almost sense his loss of control as he began moving in and out of her at a frantic pace. Her body responded on the spot; shuddering violently as she cried out for more. He seemed happy to oblige as he pulled back on her waist, forcing her to bend forward so he could bury himself to the base with every forward movement. Jolts of something too intense for words quaked through her very time his hips collided with hers and she was glad he didn't feel the need to be gentle with her just because she was pregnant. The plan was to have as much amazing sex as possible with the man she loved before she couldn't see her ankles anymore. Damon's thrusts had lost all rhythm when he leaned over her back and put his hand next to hers on the wall.

"Come with me, Elena" he demanded in that devilish tone that was enough to send her over the edge.

She dimly heard herself scream his name a fraction of a second before he let out a guttural moan and she felt him empty himself inside her. The spray from the shower was starting to get cold when he stepped back and turned her around in his arms. Tipping her face up, she kissed him sweetly before reaching over to turn off the water.

"You're still going to school" he told her and nuzzled her nose.

It wasn't a question and she thought about arguing with him but she was going to Bonnie's that afternoon anyway. Plus Jeremy would (hopefully) be at school and Elena really needed a hug from her brother.

_He's your cousin, not your brother_ some cruel part of her brain reminded her. She pushed the thought away and turned her attention back to Damon.

"I think your surprise shower visit will get me through the day" she said with a smile and grudgingly let go of him to step out of the shower.

She wrapped a towel around herself and frowned at the rat's nest that was her hair. Damon had stepped out behind her and was leaned against the shower watching her with an affectionate look on his face.

"What are you thinking?" she asked him as she dragged a brush through her tangled locks.

"That I like having you here" he replied.

"I like being here" she told him.

"I think when Jenna comes around you should go home but you're welcome to stay here any time you want"

"I appreciate that and I'll probably take you up on it"

"Do you want a ride to school?" he asked

"No, I'm going to Bonnie's after school today. I have to tell her about the baby."

"Ok, I'll see you later tonight then?"

"Yep, I should be back around 6 or 7"

Once she was dressed and ready, he walked her to the door and dragged her back three times to kiss her. By the time she got to school, she was twenty minutes late for her first class. The day went by fairly quickly but by the end she was really looking forward to some girl time with Bonnie. Her friend was abnormally quiet on the drive to her house and Elena wondered what was bothering her. Bonnie was a lot of things but quiet wasn't one of them.

"So, I have some news" Bonnie told her when they got to her Grams' house and sat down on her bed.

"Me too but you go first" Elena said.

"I think I'm just going to show you"

Bonnie got up and pulled the curtains so that the room was dim. Elena gave her a puzzled look but kept quiet. Then her friend closed her eyes and an instant later the candles that were scattered throughout the room came to life. Shadows from the tiny flames danced across the walls and with a snap of Bonnie's fingers they jumped up to illuminate the entire room before flickering back down to their normal size. Suddenly her silence on the ride home made sense. She'd been trying to figure out how to tell her a secret that Elena already knew.

"I'm a witch" Bonnie said giddily.

Damon was right, Bonnie had figured it out on her own.


	14. Chapter 14 - This Way Comes

**I have not a single word of the next chapter written so this could be it for probably about a week. I'll try to write as much and as often as I can but in the meantime I hope you all enjoy the chapter! To the magnificent readers who have been so supportive of this story, you humble me. Thank you so very, very much. As ever, I am waiting anxiously to hear your thoughts and I promise to return soon with an update! xoxo**

**Chapter 14 – This Way Comes. **

"Bonnie this is incredible!"

"I know right?! And Grams said she thinks I'm a super powerful witch"

"What does that mean?" Elena wondered aloud.

"Actually I have no idea" she said with a laugh.

"So what's your news?" her friend asked as she sat back down.

Suddenly Elena felt guilty for not being able to tell her the whole truth. She couldn't tell her about Damon and Stefan being vampires, it wasn't her secret, but it felt strange not to be able to tell her best friend everything when Bonnie obviously didn't keep secrets from her.

"Um…well…I'm" she paused and took a deep breath "I'm pregnant"

Bonnie's eyes went wide and her mouth dropped open but she didn't say anything. She just stared at Elena like she had just grown an extra head.

"Please say something" Elena begged.

"I'm sorry, that's just the last thing I expected you to say. Are you alright? How did Damon take it? I mean, I'm assuming it's his…"

"I'm kind of freaking out to be honest. Yes it's his and he took it pretty well after the initial shock wore off"

"Was that what you were fighting about yesterday?"

"Yeah we just found out yesterday afternoon. We used protection and he's…got a condition that he thought made it impossible for him to have kids so he had a hard time accepting it at first. But I haven't been with anyone else and after we talked about it, he felt like a jerk for doubting me at all."

"Are you going to keep the baby?"

"Yes. I always planned on having kids and Damon wants them too. Obviously it's happening sooner than I would've liked but they say everything happens for a reason, right?"

"You're going to be a great mom, Elena" her friend told her seriously.

"Thanks, Bonnie" and realized that it felt good to hear someone say that.

"Have you told Jenna?"

Elena nodded.

"She kicked me out. I stayed at Damon and Stefan's last night"

"No! You're kidding me!"

"Nope" she said sadly.

"I can't believe she would do that"

"Me neither. I knew she would be mad but I wasn't expecting that"

"Well you know that Grams and I are always here for you, right?"

"Yes, I do and I love you both so much for it"

Their heads twisted toward the hallway when the front door opened and closed.

"Hello!" Grams' voice sounded from the front of the house.

"In here!" Bonnie called.

Grams appeared in the doorway a moment later.

"Elena! It's so good to see you. You haven't been around much lately" she said warmly.

"I know, it's good to see you too, Grams" Elena said and stood up to hug her.

She'd spent a lot of time in this house and Sheila had long ago insisted that Elena call her Grams. The smaller woman wrapped her arms around Elena and she nearly cried. The Bennett's had been like her family since she was born and the hug was beyond comforting. Grams pulled back abruptly and gave Elena a concerned look.

"Oh sweet girl, are you alright?" Grams reached down and placed her palm on Elena's stomach.

"How did you…?"

"Judging by the candles, Bonnie has told you our family secret. We Bennett witches have good intuition. Now are you alright?"

"I'm ok" she said honestly.

"Jenna kicked her out" Bonnie chimed in.

Grams shook her head and looked disappointed.

"She's a nice lady but I don't think she's cut out for motherhood. You can talk to me anytime you like."

Elena nodded gratefully and Grams pulled her into another hug.

"I know what he is. You both come see me before school tomorrow, you hear?" Grams whispered urgently in her ear.

Shock rolled through her and she struggled her keep it from showing on her face. She gave a tiny nod and Grams released her. She chatted with Bonnie for another hour and they agreed to tell Caroline together. Elena was not looking forward to the screeching.

"If there's any justice in the world, the baby will have his eyes" Bonnie said as she walked Elena to the door.

"I know, right?" she replied with a smile and hugged her friend.

"We love you, Elena. Even if Jenna is being horrible, you still have family"

"Thank you for being so supportive. I don't think I could do this without you"

"Of course" Bonnie told her with a warm smile.

**T**here was something wonderful about hearing Elena's car pull up in the driveway and knowing that she was going to stay the night. He met her at the door and scooped her up into his arms the second she walked through it.

"Well hello to you, too" she said with a giggle.

"I missed you" he told her and kissed her before setting her back on her feet.

"I was only gone for a few hours" she said smiling

"How is Bonnie?" he asked.

"Good. She knows she's a witch now"

"Sheila finally convinced her, huh?"

"Yep, she can light candles with her mind"

That was an unsettling thought. He'd heard of angry witches barbecuing vampires and he reminded himself to try and stay on her good side.

"That's…nice" he said warily.

"Oh and Grams wants us to come see her tomorrow before school"

"Why?"

"She didn't say. She just said she knew what you were and she wants both of us to come see her"

Damon wasn't sure he would use the word trust but he'd gone a whole twenty four hours as a human without even a trace of supernatural interference. Maybe that was pure chance but he doubted it. He and Elena had gotten to truly enjoy the day and he would be willing to bet it was because of Sheila.

"Ok, we'll go over there first thing tomorrow" he agreed.

Early the next morning Elena knocked on Sheila's door and Damon thought about the last time he'd been here. He hadn't needed an invitation and he hadn't been able to hear the faint sounds of the TV from the neighbor's living room. Sheila opened the door a few seconds later.

"Hello again" he said with what he hoped was a cheerful smile.

Elena walked into the house without hesitating and he waited patiently for an invitation.

"I can trust you, can't I Mr. Salvatore?" she asked with narrowed eyes.

"Yes, you can trust me" he promised and strangely meant it.

"Then you can come inside" the witch said and stood aside.

He nodded his thanks and walked through the door.

"Sit, sit" she said and gestured toward the couch.

They took their seats and she sat down in the same easy chair she'd been in the last time he was here.

"I'm guessing this pregnancy happened the night Damon was human?"

Elena nodded and Sheila seemed to think for a moment.

"I think we need to tell my granddaughter what you are" she said to Damon.

"Why?" he asked suspiciously.

"Because she's powerful. Maybe the most powerful Bennett since Emily and I think she can help you protect Elena and this child"

"And why would you want that?"

One favor didn't undo decades of mistrust between him and the witches of the world.

"Elena is family and since her own blood is failing her, I'm going to step in. That and this baby was created while you were under a potent spell. I don't know if it will affect the child but I want to keep an eye on you to be sure. Between the three of us, we can help keep Elena and the baby safe."

It pissed him off to know he couldn't protect her himself. Even with Stefan's help, if the wrong individual found out about the pregnancy things could get ugly very fast. He was still hoping he could get through this without giving Elena nightmares.

"Fine" he said through his teeth.

"Don't be rude" Elena chided him.

"Thank you, Grams. We'll take all the help we can get" she said.

"Alright then, you go call Bonnie and tell her to come home. Damon and I are going to talk for a minute"

"Ok" Elena got up and went to the kitchen to make the call.

"I suppose I should have said 'use a condom' instead of 'look twice before you cross the street'" she remarked snidely when Elena was out of earshot.

"That would have been good advice" he said, matching her sarcasm.

"You're more worried about this than you're letting on" it wasn't a question.

He nodded.

"I haven't exactly spent the last century making friends but I don't want to scare her into thinking there are enemies lurking around every corner"

"I think that's wise"

"You know what it'll mean if we tell Bonnie about all this" he warned her.

Most witches did everything they could to stay out of vampire business but when they did stick their noses into it, they frequently ended up dead.

"I do and I have a favor to ask of you. I know very well that Elena is your priority but I'm hoping if Bonnie plays her part in protecting Elena maybe you'll watch out for her, too" she was good at hiding her emotions but he could tell the woman was mentally wringing her hands.

Damon eyed her carefully. The last time he'd agreed to help a Bennett witch he ended up personally digging her grave. Maybe Bonnie was actually as powerful as her grandmother thought she was but she was young and had virtually no experience with her power. He didn't want to make an enemy of Sheila if Bonnie ended up dead.

"I don't like making promises I can't keep" he told her.

"I'm not asking for a guarantee. Just do what you can to keep her alive"

He still didn't like it. There was enough shit going on in his world right now, the last thing he needed was another human to be responsible for. On the other hand, he needed Bonnie to help him look out for Elena and she couldn't do that if she was six feet under.

"If I agree to this, you can't blame me if something happens to her"

"Understood"

He gave her a quick nod before Elena came back.

"Bonnie is really confused but she's on her way home" she said.

While they waited, Damon looked around the living room and noticed that there were countless photos of Bonnie on the walls and shelves but none of her mother. He vaguely recalled her having a young girl in tow when he'd encountered Sheila during a civil rights rally the late 60's. It had been a good time to be a vampire; huge crowds and everyone too busy with politics to notice if a few people went missing.

"Didn't you have a daughter?" he asked offhand.

"Abby left a long time ago and she doesn't want to be found" Sheila said with just a trace of anger.

Clearly he'd struck a nerve so he dropped the subject. Thankfully Bonnie walked through the door a minute later and broke the awkward silence. She stopped in the entryway and stared at the three of them.

"What's going on?" she asked, sounding understandably puzzled.

"Sit down" her Grams told her and gestured toward the empty chair next to her.

Bonnie took the seat and looked expectantly at her grandmother.

"I wanted to ease you into all of this but there's no time so I'm sorry but you're going to get the crash course in the supernatural" Sheila said.

"What do you mean by 'the supernatural'? And what do Elena and Damon have to do with it?" Bonnie asked.

"There's a lot more to the supernatural world than just witches, baby girl"

"Ok, like what?"

Sheila and Elena glanced in his direction.

"When I first met Damon, it was 1967" Sheila said.

"But…that was like 40 years ago" Bonnie interrupted.

"Yes it was and he looked exactly the same as he does now"

"I don't get it" she said.

Sheila was trying to let her come to it on her own but he could see the confusion etched on her face and his tolerance was low today.

"We don't have time for this. Bonnie, I'm a vampire"

The girl let out a bark of laughter before she saw that no one was smiling.

"Show her" Sheila said to him.

Damon made sure Bonnie's eyes were trained on him before he let his face change and he lifted his lip to show her his fangs. He was less than surprised when she yelped in fear and scrambled out of her chair.

"It's ok, he won't hurt you" Elena told her.

Bonnie just shook her head and started to back away. He retracted his fangs and put his human face back into place but the little witch was still gawking at him with terrified eyes.

"This isn't happening" she murmured.

Sheila stood up and took both of her granddaughter's hands in hers.

"Yes, it is. This is real. I know it's scary and I know it's a lot to take in but your friend needs your help. So you're gonna take a deep breath and sit back down so we can finish explaining, ok?"

Her eyes moved to Elena and her face went from fear to worry.

"You need my help?"

Elena nodded and she moved slowly back toward her chair. If there had been any doubt in his mind about Bonnie's loyalty to her friend, it disappeared the moment she sat back down. He could see why they were best friends. They shared the unique ability to put everything else to the side for the people they loved and he had to admit he admired them both for it. Once she'd settled herself down enough to listen, the three of them took turns explaining and two hours later they had covered everything up to finding out about the pregnancy.

"Wow…this is…nuts" she said when they finished.

"Understatement of the century" Elena replied with a small smile.

"I still don't understand how I can help"

"Since the child was conceived under such a powerful spell, we're worried that it could have side effects. You and I are going to make sure nothing bad happens to Elena or her baby"

"So what do we do?"

"First, we need a protection spell and then we need a talisman to put the spell on so she can have the magic with her at all times" Sheila said.

"What about my necklace?" Elena asked.

"Might as well since it's already got vervain in it" Damon commented.

"That should work but we'll need to borrow it for a couple of hours" Sheila told her.

He didn't like the idea of her walking around without vervain, even for an hour or two.

"Can we stay here while you do it?" he asked.

"You can sit right there" she told him.

"Why are you so worried?" Elena asked when the witches had left the room.

"I just want you to be safe" he told her earnestly.

"I get that but we could go grab a bite to eat while they do this. We don't have to be here the whole time."

"I'd just feel better if you were wearing your necklace"

"Ok but why?"

The girl was relentless.

"Because I only get one shot at this, Elena. If something happens to you…" he trailed off.

It wasn't a complete lie and he only felt slightly guilty when she went quiet. A moment later she reached over and laced their fingers. It didn't take her long to curl up into his shoulder and they waited in comfortable silence. An hour and a half went by before Bonnie and Sheila came back to the living room and the younger one handed Elena her necklace.

"So how does this work?" she asked as she fastened it around her neck.

"Well in theory I should be able to find you if you need me. All you have to do is think that you need my help and I'll know where you are and even if I'm not with you, I can channel magic to help you" Bonnie said and looked back at her Grams, seemingly for confirmation.

The older woman nodded.

"I'm really tired. Do I have to go back to school?" Bonnie asked.

"No, you don't. That was a lot of magic and you need to rest. Damon, you should take Elena home. Elena, you should try and stay as near to Damon and Bonnie as you can for the time being"

"You're all acting like I'm made of porcelain. The day is almost over anyway. I think I can make it through Mr. Saltzman's history class without getting killed"

"So now you _want_ to go to school?" Damon asked.

"There's a test today" she reasoned.

"Fine but I'm picking you up" he told her.

"Me and Jeremy. He's coming over for dinner, remember?"

Actually he'd completely forgotten.

"Right, and Jeremy"

Damon dropped her off in the parking lot and decided to wait outside. There was only one ninety minute period left in the day anyway. While he was sitting in his car being incredibly glad he was outside the school rather than in one of its classrooms, he spotted a face he hadn't seen in over a hundred years. And, not surprisingly, she looked exactly like the pretty teenage girl he had known all those years ago. He'd assumed she was in the tomb with all the others but it would appear that he was mistaken.

"Annabelle" he murmured to himself.

He didn't get the chance to ponder her presence for more than a second before there was a rapping on his window. A stick thin bald man in a bad suit was squinting down at him with a disapproving stare. Damon rolled down his window and gave him a bored look.

"Can I help you?" he asked dryly.

"Who are you?" the man sneered at him.

"I'm Damon. Who are you?" he replied with mock politeness.

"I'm Mr. Weber and I'm the principal of this school. What are you doing here?"

"I'm waiting to pick up my girlfriend and her brother"

"And who might they be?"

The tone of the question grated on his nerves and he was losing his patience with this little weasel and his power trip.

"Elena and Jeremy Gilbert"

No one liked messing with the kids who had dead parents but it only threw Mr. Weber off for a moment.

"Well you can't loiter in the parking lot" he told him and crossed his arms over his chest.

Damon met his eyes and locked in on them.

"I can do whatever I want and you're never going to bother me again. Got it?" he instructed.

"Got it" Mr. Weber responded automatically.

"Good. Now go away"

Damon rolled up his window and turned his attention back to the school but Annabelle was nowhere to be seen.

_Damnit _he thought and a moment later the bell rang. Jeremy was the first one out the door and the moment he stepped outside, Annabelle appeared again. She emerged a few feet behind him and tried to catch up casually. Focusing in on Jeremy's voice, he was able to pick up on the conversation.

"_Hey, Jeremy. Wait up!" _

"_Oh hey, Anna" the kid replied awkwardly._

"_So I was wondering…do you want to go to the grill later? Maybe play some pool?" Annabelle asked hopefully. _

"_Ah I'm actually having dinner with my sister and her boyfriend tonight. Some other time?" Jeremy responded. _

The kid didn't wait for a response before he hurried away from her and looked relieved when he spotted Damon's car.

"So how come you blew off the hot chick?" he asked when Jeremy got in the car.

"I don't know. She's weird"

"Hot trumps weird every time. Trust me" he advised him sagely.

Damon wasn't necessarily gunning for Elena's little brother to start dating a vampire but he wanted to know what she was up to. What the hell would a vampire want with a stoner like Jeremy Gilbert?

"Jesus Jeremy, you smell like Reefer Madness. Another little piece of advice for you; carry some cologne"

He was half tempted to demand Jeremy hand over his stash but it didn't smell very good so he decided the kid could keep it.

"Shit. Are you going to tell my sister?"

"I seriously doubt I'm going to need to"

"Damn, she's such a buzzkill"

"Yeah but on the plus side dinner is going to be extra tasty for you"

The teenager gave him a dopey smile and nodded. The smile didn't last long. Elena got in the car, took one look at her brother and scoffed in disappointment.

"You're stoned!" she yelled.

Then she turned to Damon.

"He's stoned. My sixteen year old brother is high"

"Yeah I know"

"You know?"

"He reeks" he told her.

"Ugh, Jeremy this has got to stop! You have to start being responsible"

"Don't lecture me about responsibility! You're pregnant!" he countered.

Elena opened her mouth to argue but closed it a moment later and sat back in her seat.

"I'm sorry, Elena. I didn't mean it like that"

"No, it's ok. You're right, I was irresponsible. But that doesn't mean you should be too"

After that, they rode in silence until they got to the house and the kitchen seemed to break the tension. Jeremy told him a few choice embarrassing childhood stories about Elena and she countered with a couple of her own. Part of the way through dinner, he got up to "go to the bathroom". I.e. get some blood from the basement. But he could hear her talking to him and when he realized what she was about to tell him, he lingered a little longer to let her finish.

"_Listen, I know this is a weird time to drop this on you but I have something I need to tell you." Elena said. _

"_Ok…"_

_She took a deep breath. _

"_I'm adopted." _

"_I knew it" the boy replied and Damon could hear the smile in his voice. _

"_I'm serious" she told him but there was a smile there, too. _

"_Really?" _

"_Yeah. It turns out that Uncle John isn't my uncle" _

"_No way. You hate Uncle John" _

"_I wish it wasn't true but it is" she told him with a sigh.  
_

Damon made his way back into the kitchen and gave her a knowing smile.

"Who wants dessert?" he asked and pulled the chocolate cake out of the fridge.

They were on their second helping when the doorbell rang.

"I'll be right back" he told them as he got up to see who it was.

He opened the door and, to his surprise, found Jenna on his front porch.

"Hi. Um, is my niece here?"

"That depends on what you want to say to her" he said and leaned casually on the edge of the large wooden door.

"I'm going to tell her how sorry I am for being such a bitch"

_Finally _he thought and stood back.

"Then yes, she's here. And so is your nephew"

"Well that works because I owe him an apology, too"

"He's a little stoned so he'll probably be more forgiving than Elena" he encouraged and gestured for her to follow him.

"He's also not a pregnant teenager whose aunt kicked her out of her own house"

"Yeah there's that, too" he agreed as they walked toward the kitchen.


	15. Chapter 15 - Truth

**I am SOOO sorry it took me this long to update! Sadly, I haven't had a lot of time to write lately. I hope you're all still with me! I really don't know how to tell you all how grateful I am that you love this story. This one has a lot more to tell and as long as you all keep reading, who knows how long this could go on! As ever, I can't wait to hear what you think :) **

**xoxo**

**Chapter 15 – Truth **

"So how long did it take you to realize you were being, as you said, a bitch?" he asked her conversationally while he led her through the house.

"About ten minutes after you left the other night. I was just too stubborn to admit it until Sheila Bennett told me off in the liquor store parking lot this afternoon"

"I bet that was a helluva guilt trip"

"You have no idea" Jenna said and looked thoroughly shamed.

Damon imagined Jenna would like some privacy to make her amends but she wasn't going to get it. Not unless Elena asked him to leave.

"Hey" she said to her niece and nephew when she walked into the kitchen behind him.

Elena looked startled and then angry when she laid eyes on her. Jeremy mirrored the sentiments.

"Before you both tell me to go to hell, which I totally deserve, will you please hear me out?"

The siblings, or cousins if you wanted to get technical, looked at each other and then back to their aunt.

"Ok fine" Elena said.

Jenna didn't give them a chance to change their minds.

"First and foremost I owe you both an apology. Elena, I should have never asked you to leave your own home and everything Damon said was completely right. Your mom would be ashamed of the way I treated you" she paused as tears snuck into her voice "and I would like nothing more than to be there for you in any way that I can. And Jeremy I am so sorry you had to see me that way. There's no excuse for being that drunk and I didn't mean any of those things. You aren't a screw up and you had every right to defend your sister. I wouldn't blame either of you if you never spoke to me again but please know that I love you both with all my heart and if you give me another chance, I promise I'll be better"

Elena and Jeremy exchanged another silent conversation for a moment but he was pretty sure he knew what they were going to say. It was a good speech. Damon definitely would have forgiven her and that was saying something.

"Do you want some cake? It's pretty amazing" Jeremy finally spoke and his aunt broke out in a smile.

**E**lena knew, of course, that she and Jeremy couldn't stay mad at Jenna forever. They were family and they had precious little of that these days.

"You really should try the cake" she said and pushed her plate across the table to where her aunt had just taken a seat next to Jeremy.

"Did he make it?" she asked and inclined her head towards Damon who had returned to his seat next to Elena.

She nodded and held her fork out with a smile.

"You're the devil" Jenna said to Damon before snatching the fork out of Elena's hand.

"He knows" Elena said and earned herself an appropriately fiendish smirk from him.

They sat and talked and ate cake for another hour. Jenna agreed that Elena could stay at the boarding house when she wanted to and she wondered how Damon would react when she told him she wanted to go home tonight. He would probably spend the night on her roof again. She didn't care, she missed her house and her room. It was annoyingly obvious that there was something he wasn't telling her and it was making him terrified to leave her alone but she really had no idea how to get it out of him. He'd never kept anything from her before and the idea that there was something out there scary enough to set him on edge, made her even more nervous. Not nervous enough to pass up the chance to sleep in her own bed, though.

"Where are you going?" he asked when she grabbed her purse and headed for the door a few minutes after Jenna left with Jeremy.

"Home" she said determinedly.

"Why? It's late. You should just stay here" he told her and tugged her into his arms.

"It's only 8 o'clock and I want to sleep in my own bed, in my own room, in my own house" she said.

She tried to push away from him but his grip was like iron around her waist and he was doing that hypnotic thing with his eyes. _Do not give in to the eyes _the small sensible part of her brain insisted and she steeled herself.

"Unless you're going to tell me what's really bothering you and why you think you need to be glued to my side, then I suggest you quit with the caveman act and let me go home" she said sternly.

He narrowed his eyes for a beat before dropping his arms.

"Thank you. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow" she said and rose up on her toes to kiss him.

It really shouldn't have stunned her as much as it did when he pulled her closer and the quick goodbye kiss turned into her pressed between him and the wall. Before she could even form a thought, his hands were somehow everywhere all at once and his lips were moving slowly from her lips to her neck. Then abruptly he let go of her and left her completely breathless.

"You're welcome. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow" he told her and went to open the door for her.

"Jenna was right. You are the devil"

"I know" he told her with a smirk.

With a shake of her head, she jumped up to kiss him on the cheek and trotted out to her car before he could persuade her to stay. Jenna was waiting for her when she got home and she hoped there wasn't a lecture in store. All she wanted to do was collapse in her bed and write in her journal.

"Hey, can I steal one more minute from you?" she asked tentatively.

"Sure" Elena said and sat down on the couch next to her.

"I just…I have to tell you that I completely failed you as a guardian, an aunt, and as a friend. So I'd like to ask you what I should have asked you the moment you told me you were pregnant. Are you ok, Elena?"

There was something different about the question when it was Jenna asking and the tears welled in her eyes. She shook her head 'no' and her aunt pulled her into a fierce hug.

"I'm so scared, Jenna" she whispered against her shoulder.

"I know sweetie but you are absolutely not in this alone"

Elena let go of Jenna and sat back on the couch.

"Everyone is going to know. The baby is going to be born before I graduate"

"You're doing what's right for you. To hell with anyone who judges you for that"

"What if I can't do it? What if I'm not a good mother?"

"That's not possible. You had the most amazing role model in the world and you're going to be a wonderful mother. Any time you question yourself, just ask yourself what your mom would have done and you'll have your answer."

"What if I don't know what she would do?"

"Then call me and we'll figure it out together"

More tears rose up at the thought of her mom.

"I really wish she was here right now"

"Me too, honey. Me too. Why don't you go lay down and get some sleep?"

Elena nodded and got up but Jenna grabbed her hand before walked away.

"I'm really glad you came home tonight, Elena"

"So am I, Jenna" she told her and squeezed her hand.

As she started toward her room, she let the feeling of _home _trickle through her and she relaxed just a fraction. It felt good to be back inside these walls with her family. When she opened the door to her room she almost screamed when she found Damon lounging casually on her bed. He looked up from the book he was reading and frowned at her as she closed the door behind her.

"Did you really read Twilight? I mean, come on. What kind of lame ass vampire sparkles and doesn't have fangs?" he whispered and held up the book.

"Someone is going to notice if you keep sneaking in my window" she hissed at him and plucked the novel out of his hands.

"Not a chance" he told her confidently.

"How can you be so sure?"

A millisecond later he was standing in front of her.

"Did you see that?" Damon asked her.

"No" she conceded.

"Are you glad to see me?" he murmured and stepped closer to her.

"Always" she answered.

"Then go put on your PJ's. You, Elena Gilbert, get to have your cake and eat it, too. We're having a sleep over. You get _me_ in _your _bed and you get to keep your pajamas on…unless of course you want to take them off. Taking them off would be ok, too."

There was no stopping the wide genuine smile from spreading over her face.

"You're impossible" she said but grabbed a pajama set out of her drawer and headed for the bathroom.

After she'd changed and brushed her teeth, she came back and found him on her bed with his shoes kicked off and his eyes closed. They popped open to sweep over her body and she wondered if that look would ever stop making her blush.

"You know you sleep at a sleep over, right?"

"I never really understood that" he told her.

"Well if you really want to, we could listen to boy bands and I could paint your nails" she teased.

"I'll behave" he said with a laugh and patted the empty space next to him.

She crawled under the covers and switched off the light before she curled into his chest.

"Eventually you're going to have to tell me why you're so scared" she whispered into the dark.

"Go to sleep, Elena" he said and kissed the top of her head.

It went on like that for the next two weeks. If she wasn't in his bed, he was in hers. Most weeknights they spent at her house and Elena was fairly certain it was half pity that he cooked them dinner every other night. Jenna was the only person she knew who managed to burn fish sticks. Damon's presence seemed to be having a positive effect on Jeremy, too. His teasing about turning into a lazy stoner seemed to upset her brother and he'd started going to class again. Even Mr. Saltzman, whose class Jeremy had been failing miserably, was going to give him a special assignment and help him pass. With everything that had happened, she supposed she should have known the peace could only last for so long.

They'd just finished dinner with Stefan at the boarding house and had moved to the living room.

"Man, I missed your food" Stefan said as he plopped down on the couch.

"A hundred years estranged and he missed my food" Damon told Elena.

"You can't even accept a compliment like a normal person, can you?" she asked, coming to Stefan's defense.

"I've never been normal and technically I'm not a person" he said and pulled her down onto the love seat with him.

"You're a person. You're just a supernaturally animated person" she retorted.

Before Damon could come back with a clever reply, all three of them heard the front door open and close

"Are you expecting anyone?" Damon asked his brother.

Stefan shook his head and stood up. Damon didn't hesitate and in a flash he was gone. Something was setting off alarms in her brain and she got up to follow him.

"Elena…" Stefan called but she still beat him to the foyer.

"No!" Elena screamed when she saw what was about to happen.

It was pure instinct to move in front of him when she found Damon with a stake lodged in his shoulder and Zach standing in front of him with another stake on its way to his heart.

The pain that shot through her shoulder when the stake stabbed into it was blinding. A few years ago she'd broken her arm in cheerleading practice and she thought nothing could possibly hurt more than that but she was wrong. This pain twisted and burned it's way through her nerves and when her eyes wandered slowly down to the wound, she noted that blood was pouring out at an alarming rate. Her vision blurred but before she lost consciousness, she saw Damon's electric blue eyes rimmed with the terrifying red as he flew behind Zach and snapped his neck.

The next thing she knew, she was on the long couch in the living room and Damon was hovering over her. Elena's brain was fuzzy and she tried to piece together what had just happened.

"Damon?" she said when her eyes found his.

"You're ok" he told her and knelt down next to her.

"What just happened?"

"Zach decided today was a good day to die" he said scathingly.

"So I didn't imagine that? You killed him?"

"I'm sorry you had to see that but he tried to kill me and he nearly killed you in the process"

He had warned her about this very thing but she couldn't help feeling responsible for Zach's death.

"You killed him because of me" she said in a hollow voice.

"No, Elena. This is not your fault. He's wanted to stake me for years and he would have died trying no matter what. I would have killed him whether you were here or not."

She knew he was right and she tried to make herself believe it.

"Where…what did you do with him?"

"He'll get a proper burial. Don't worry about that" Stefan told her from the other side of the room.

"What about the DNA test?" she asked.

"I got a sample. Don't worry about that either. Actually I have enough of your blood from the stake Zach stabbed you with that you don't even have to go to the doctor. I'll have the paternity test in a few days" Stefan said.

For the first time she noticed that there was no pain where the wound should have been.

"What happened to…?" she said and looked down at the blood soaked hole in her shirt.

"I gave you some of my blood" Damon told her.

"It doesn't even look like I got hurt" she said and marveled at the completely healed spot where there should have been a gaping injury.

"He missed your heart by an inch, maybe two. I was afraid you would bleed out before I got you to a hospital" Damon said, like he needed to justify saving her life.

She nodded and tried to give him a reassuring smile.

"I don't think you get it. You need to stay next to me or Little Witch for the next twenty four hours because if you die, you either turn or you die permanently. Either way the baby dies"

"Oh…" she murmured as what he said hit her.

"I'd really like it if you would stay here tonight" he said carefully.

Elena could see that he was trying not to order her around and in an effort to be compromising, she nodded in agreement.

"And no school tomorrow" he added.

"But there's a test…" she started

"I'll compel the teacher to give you another chance to take it"

"I thought you didn't want me to ditch school" she pouted.

"Read the fine print; I don't want you to ditch school unless your life is in danger"

The argument was on the tip of her tongue but she bit it back and figured it would be the day she had wanted to take off a week and a half ago.

"Fine" she agreed.

"I have something to take care of tomorrow afternoon so have Bonnie come over after school. She called in a complete panic, by the way. I told her you were fine but it looks like the necklace works" he told her.

"What do you have to take care of?" she asked suspiciously.

"I'm going to a town council meeting"

"You're what?" she asked, slack jawed.

"I brought Sheriff Forbes to the vampire's body from the dance and she was impressed. She asked me to come to the next meeting"

"Why would you show her the body?" Elena asked, truly confused.

"To gain her trust, silly. I want to stay informed about the goings on in this town and the best way to get that information is to be on the town council. Befriending the Sheriff seemed like a good place to start"

She couldn't think of a response to that. It was devious and brilliant and she wished she could think of a reason for him not to do it.

"I'm going to bed" she said and swung her legs around to get up.

"I'll be right behind you" Damon told her.

Every day of her life seemed stranger than the last. Tonight she had watched a man die and she had to try and get over it. Blaming herself wasn't going to do her or anyone else any good. Damon was right. Zach had to know there was a good chance he wasn't going to make it through the evening alive. Still, the hazy memory of his neck twisting so quickly and unnaturally kept playing through her mind and it made her stomach roll every time. Elena had barely known Zach Salvatore but she couldn't stop herself from feeling the odd pang of sadness for him and the violent way he'd died. As she curled into Damon's bed, she wondered what could have driven him to do something so stupid and suicidal.

Two nights later she and Damon were sitting at a table in the mostly empty Mystic Grill. They'd beat the dinner rush and he was telling her that he wanted to take her to a nice restaurant.

"Why do I need fancy restaurants when I have you?" she asked and he grinned at her.

"Maybe I just want an excuse for you to borrow another little black dress from Caroline"

"Actually Caroline gave me that little black dress so you can make me dinner and I'll wear the dress"

"What do you have against five star restaurants?" he demanded, his brow furrowed.

"They're too far away from your bed" she retorted with a slow smile.

Damon gave her a molten look and the corner of his mouth twitched up.

"Fair enough"

Just as she was about to suggest that maybe they were too far away from his bed right now, Stefan breezed through the door and took the empty seat across from them at the table.

"Well hello, Stefan. Would you care to join us?" Damon asked, sounding annoyed.

The younger Salvatore produced an envelope and slid it across the table to his brother.

"What's that?"

"What do you think it is? It's the paternity results."

Elena's heart flip flopped in her stomach. There wasn't even a shadow of a doubt it her mind about what the piece of paper said but somehow she was still nervous. She and Damon stared at the envelope for a minute before Damon pushed it back toward his brother.

"You open it"

"Are you sure?" Stefan asked.

Elena looked to Damon and nodded.

"We're sure" he said

Stefan retrieved it from the center of the table and wasted no time ripping it open. He tugged the piece of paper out of the envelope and glanced over it. Giving it another quick read, he looked up and smiled at them.

"Congratulations Mom and Dad. The baby shares familial DNA with one Zachary Salvatore. Being that the baby is not his, and he _was_ the only 'living' male Salvatore, that only leaves one option. You, brother"

Stefan held out the paper and Damon took it. His eyes flicked over it and he passed it to her. Most of it was gibberish but she saw the parts that said her child had alleles in common with Zachary Salvatore, making it a distant relative. A relieved chuckle escaped her mouth.

"This is our baby, Damon" she said and smiled at him.

"I'm sorry I ever doubted you" he said and cupped her face with both his hands.

"It doesn't matter. We know for sure now and we don't have to think about it ever again" she assured him and covered his hands with hers.

"You two are disgusting" Stefan said but sounded strangely happy about it.

The chirp of her phone went off and when she saw the time on the readout, her heart dropped.

"Oh crap, I'm really late for a study session at Caroline's and she's freaking out"

She looked expectantly at Damon. He'd picked her up after school so she didn't have her car. Hoofing it to Caroline's would take ten minutes but the walk home would be quite a bit longer.

"How long are you going to be? I've got another town council meeting in forty-five minutes" he said.

"Definitely longer than that and council meetings take forever"

Elena would be done at Caroline's long before he was done at the Lockwood's.

"I'll pick you up" Stefan offered.

"Thanks, Stefan. Gotta run!" she said and got to her feet

**S**he gave him a quick kiss on the lips and dashed out to the street. The moment she was gone his brother leaned over the table and raised his eyebrow at him.

"Are you sure about this whole council thing?" Stefan asked.

"Sure, why not? Could be useful"

"What if it's a trap?"

"It's not" Damon assured him.

"How do you know?"

"Because this is my second meeting and no one's tried to kill me. Plus, I was alone in the forest with Liz Forbes for hours and she carries a gun with wooden bullets. If she wanted to kill me, she had plenty of opportunity. Trust me, she doesn't know I'm a vampire" he whispered the last word with a sly smile.

"What about the rest of them?"

"Have you met these people?"

"Zach was on the council. So was John"

"And neither would have or could have told them anything. Zach just wanted to ride the money train and John doesn't remember anything"

Stefan gave him a hard look.

"Ok fine" he said, sounding resigned.

"Drink?" Damon asked.

"Absolutely. We have to celebrate" Stefan said and nodded toward the piece of paper.

Three bourbons later he was reasonably sure he could make it through a council meeting without killing anyone. He parted ways with his brother and headed toward his car. The blue Camaro was just out of reach when he heard the distinctly human footsteps. Instincts had Damon turning just in time to see a man he sort of recognized advancing on him with a stake.

"You've gotta be kidding me" he groaned and flicked out of the way.

The guy stumbled, cursed under his breath and twisted his head to look for his prey but Damon was already on the other side of him. The man's identity suddenly dawned on him. He was Elena's history teacher and he had been married to Isobel. _Alaric Saltzman _the name popped into his head. Before Mr. Saltzman could turn the other direction, Damon was at his opposite side and reached out to tap him on the shoulder. The teacher's head turned slowly and by the time his frightened eyes landed on Damon, the fangs were already out.

_**A/N – Don't be mad at me for stopping there! I promise I'll be back soon :)**_


	16. Chapter 16 - Friends and Allies

***hides from glaring readers* I'm SO sorry I was gone for so long! Work was crazy and then I went to Chicago and met the one and only IAN JOSEPH SOMERHALDER! If you can believe it, he's even better looking in person. Not to mention a total sweet heart. I could gush forever but you probably want me to shut up and get on with the story. I included the last bit of chapter 15 in case you needed a refresher. **

**I promise to do my best to keep updates coming more quickly and since this one is on the shorter side, I'll make the next one a lot longer. Things are about to get interesting so I hope you're all still interested in the story! **

**Chapter 16 – Friends and Allies **

_Three bourbons later he was reasonably sure he could make it through a council meeting without killing anyone. He parted ways with his brother and headed toward his car. The blue Camaro was just out of reach when he heard the distinctly human footsteps. Instincts had Damon turning just in time to see a man he sort of recognized advancing on him with a stake. _

"_You've gotta be kidding me" he groaned and flicked out of the way. _

_The guy stumbled, cursed under his breath and twisted his head to look for his prey but Damon was already on the other side of him. The man's identity suddenly dawned on him. He was Elena's history teacher and he had been married to Isobel. Alaric Saltzman the name popped into his head. Before Mr. Saltzman could turn the other direction, Damon was at his opposite side and reached out to tap him on the shoulder. The teacher's head turned slowly and by the time his frightened eyes landed on Damon, the fangs were already out. _

"I know I'm not the nicest guy on the planet but this is the second time that someone has tried to stake me in a week. That's a lot, even for me." Damon said calmly as he advanced on Alaric Saltzman.

"You killed my wife" the other man snarled and held the stake up again.

Damon rolled his eyes and smacked the piece of wood out of his hand with a flick of his wrist.

"Yeah but she asked me to" he said coldly.

Without waiting for a reply he grabbed the man around the neck and pinned him up against the wall behind them. He could smell the vervain and he was about to snap his second neck of the week but the teacher's expression made him hesitate.

"Wait, wait please! What did you just say?" Alaric pleaded.

"Your wife asked me to turn her into a vampire and I did" he told him matter-of-factly, not loosening his grip on Mr. Saltzman's neck.

"She's not dead?" the teacher asked, sounding completely dejected.

The poor bastards face was enough to send a pang of sympathy running through Damon. If anyone understood being duped into thinking the woman you love is dead it was him.

"Well technically she's undead but no, she's not dead" he said with a little less venom.

The fight went out of Alaric Saltzman and he sagged against the wall.

"Then just kill me and get it over with"

Damon sighed. He couldn't kill him now, they were cut from the same cloth. They had both been tricked by Petrova women who had the survival instincts of a wild animal. The rage subsided and he dropped the vampire face.

"Are you wearing the vervain or drinking it?" Damon demanded and let go of Mr. Saltzman.

"What?"

"Is the vervain in your system or on your person?" he asked, exasperated.

"Wearing it" Alaric responded, looking confused.

"Where?"

"It's in my jacket pocket" he said sounding even more perplexed.

"Take off the jacket"

"What?"

"Are you deaf? Take off the damn vervain"

"Why?"

"You know what, I changed my mind. I'm just going to kill you" he said and he let the blood rush to his eyes.

The teacher scrambled out of the jacket and threw it on the ground.

"Smart move. I'm going to compel you to forget this happened, you don't have a choice there. But I can compel you to forget her, too, if you want" he offered.

"Why would you do that?"

"Because you're Elena's favorite teacher" he said with a mocking smile.

"Bullshit"

"Anyone ever tell you that you shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth?"

"Look, you don't have to compel me. I can help you"

"Help me with what?" Damon asked skeptically.

"I know why that other vampire is here, Anna."

"How did you know Annabelle was a vampire?" he asked with narrowed eyes.

"Promise not to kill me or compel me and I'll tell you everything I know" Alaric said desperately.

Damon weighed the options. The safest route was probably to compel the guy and move on but he had to admit he was intrigued. He'd mentioned the Annabelle thing to Stefan but they hadn't had a chance to look into it. Whatever the teacher knew might be helpful.

"Why shouldn't I just compel you to tell me what you know?"

That gave the man pause.

"I'm a good ally. I know Elena was attacked by a vampire at the dance and Anna, or Annabelle, whatever her name is, she just enrolled at Mystic Falls high. I can be your eyes and ears at the school. And I'm not completely oblivious like the members of the council so I might actually be useful"

The man had a point.

"Fine. Allies it is. But if you cross me, you'll wish I'd just snapped your neck"

"Understood"

"Meet me at the boarding house at 9 tonight and we can chat about Annabelle"

"I'll be there"

"You damn well better be"

The teacher/novice vampire hunter nodded again and stared at him.

"What are you waiting for? Leave" Damon snapped.

Alaric snatched his coat up from the ground and took off toward the street. Damon jumped in his car and sped over the Mayor's Mansion. The meeting went pretty much the way he'd expected. There hadn't been any other reported 'animal attacks' and, as far as anyone knew, their neighbors were not vampires. Then they spent the next two hours drinking and talking about the Fall Picnic. _Oh goody, sour lemonade and horrible chili _he thought when Carol announced it. When the meeting was finally adjourned and he got back to his house, the teacher was waiting at his door.

"You're early" Damon said when he got out of his car.

"No, you're late"

"Mayor Lockwood likes the sound of his own voice. Let's go inside"

He led Alaric to the living room and headed for the drink tray.

"Whiskey?" Damon asked and held up the decanter.

"Sure" Alaric said and stepped deeper into the room.

Damon handed him his drink and gestured for him to sit down as he dropped onto one of the easy chairs. They sat awkwardly for a moment not saying anything.

"So Annabelle?" Damon said with raised eyebrows.

Alaric snapped to attention.

"Right. She wants John Gilbert's diary. Jeremy has it but he's using it for a project I gave him so he won't give it to her. I caught her trying to compel him in the library but I'm guessing Elena is slipping him vervain so that failed miserably"

"What does she want with John Gilbert's diary? He was right about the vampires but otherwise he was a raving lunatic"

"I have no idea but she wants it bad"

"Ok, what else?"

"She was here with the vampire who attacked Elena. He was helping her until you guys got to him. His name was Noah and he was turned by Katherine Pierce about 80 years ago"

"How could you possibly know that and not know the Isobel is a vampire?" Damon asked dubiously.

"I wasn't looking for Isobel. I was looking for vampires. Specifically I was looking for the vampire who killed my wife and after some pretty extensive digging, I traced the vampire bloodline from Katherine to you. I eliminated Noah pretty early on"

"I think I'm glad I didn't kill you" Damon said with a smirk.

Alaric took a long swig of his whiskey.

"What made you decide not to kill me?"

"I told you, you're Elena's favorite teacher"

"We both know that's crap. What's the real reason?"

Damon glowered at the man.

"Let's just say I sympathize with your situation"

"What situation?"

He rolled his eyes and slammed his drink.

"The situation where you got screwed by a Petrova vampire"

"Petrova?"

"That's the bloodline your wife and Katherine come from"

Damon left out the part where Elena was also a part of that bloodline. Clearly Alaric hadn't seen a photo of Katherine. Elena's resemblance to Katherine was need to know only and as far as he was concerned, Mr. Saltzman didn't need to know.

"Katherine and Isobel are related?"

"Distantly"

"Small world"

"You have no idea"

"Well if you don't have any other questions I think I'll be going" Alaric said and got to his feet.

"You'll call me if something comes up at the school"

It wasn't a question.

"Yep" Alaric replied with a nod.

Damon had just stood up to walk the teacher out when Stefan came through the door.

"Um hi…Mr. Saltzman…" Stefan said and gave Damon a questioning look.

"Stefan, hey…um…I'll see you in class" the teacher replied awkwardly and rushed out the door.

Damon didn't need to wait for Stefan to ask the question. He could see it written on his face.

"He tried to kill me but I decided he was more useful alive. He knows about Annabelle and he's agreed to keep an eye on her for us"

"He tried to kill you and you didn't kill him?"

"I tuned his wife into a vampire. I owed him one"

His brother looked skeptical but said his goodnights and disappeared upstairs.

**E**lena had been trying to tell herself she was paranoid but for the last three weeks she could swear that Mr. Saltzman was watching her every move when she was at school. If Damon didn't pick her up after school, he made some excuse to walk her to her car. When Damon did pick her up, she was almost certain she'd seen him exchange knowing glances with Damon when he walked her out the doors of the school. It was starting to freak her out. Even stranger, she was sure she'd seen him having a very intense conversation with Damon at the Fall Picnic a few days ago. Damon told her Mr. Saltzman wanted to know if Jenna was single but she was sure there was more to the conversation than that. She had a feeling Alaric knew about the vampires and he was conspiring with Damon to watch her when he couldn't. She just wished she knew how they'd started talking in the first place. Elena loved him but sometimes her guy was kind of a caveman and she resolved to make him tell her the truth.

It was a Wednesday night and Damon had just walked through her front door. After a kiss and a hello, he went straight for the fridge and starting rummaging. She hopped onto the counter and watched him with a faint smile. Here, in her home, he was almost an entirely different person. The ice in his eyes melted to a balmy sea blue and he smiled freely. Sometimes he even laughed.

"You need adult supervision at the grocery store. Did you seriously buy three different kinds of ice cream?"

The snide comments, however, were ever present.

"I'm eating for two" she reasoned.

That earned her a smile.

"What are you in the mood for?" he asked.

She was about to tell him spaghetti because she knew they had the ingredients for it when Jenna skidded into the kitchen.

"Stop!" Jenna shouted with her hand up.

Elena raised an eyebrow at her and Damon popped his head out of the fridge with an identical expression.

"I'm not going to drink your wine. Promise" he told her with a smirk.

"Smartass. No, I'm taking everyone out. You cook for us all the time so tonight we're all going to the grill on me"

"Works for me. You don't have any food anyway" he said and closed the freezer door.

"Excellent. Where's Jeremy?"

"Jeremy!" Elena yelled.

"Just a minute!" she heard faintly from upstairs.

The boy who bounded down the stairs a few seconds later looked nothing like the sad eyed young man she'd come to know as her brother. It had been a slow transition but she knew exactly who she had to thank for it. One night Damon had asked Jeremy if he had some kind of disease that turned his nails black. He had sheepishly admitted it was permanent marker. An amused expression and a remark about him never losing his virginity had her brother at her door later that night asking to borrow her nail polish remover. Damon hadn't been wrong about Jeremy needing a guy around.

The grill was busy when they got there but they managed to snag a booth at the front. She slid onto the bench facing the bar and Damon angled in next to her.

"Mr. Saltzman is at the bar" he told Jenna with an eyebrow waggle.

"And…?" she said nonchalantly as she picked up the menu but Elena saw her cheeks flush.

"And he asked me if you were single at the picnic" Damon said suggestively.

"He did?"

"Yep"

"You should go talk to him, Jenna" Elena encouraged.

Her aunt spent all her time with them or working on her thesis. She needed to have some fun and Mr. Saltzman was just her type. Plus Mr. Saltzman looked like he could use the company.

"Yeah?"

"Totally"

"You guys don't mind?" she asked nervously and glanced over her shoulder at the sandy haired man.

"Go!" Elena said and shooed her off.

Jeremy nodded in agreement and their aunt practically leapt from her seat. The three of them ordered their food and while they waited, Elena noticed a dark haired girl across the restaurant was casually staring at Damon. But it wasn't the way that girls normally stared at Damon. It was like she knew him and it was really creeping Elena out.

"Who is that girl?" she asked distastefully.

"Which girl?" Damon asked.

She inclined her head in the direction of creepy girl. A flash of recognition and something dark passed over Damon's face before he smoothed it over.

"Hey Jer, it's your girlfriend" Damon teased.

"What?" Jeremy turned around and sure enough the girl waved at him.

"Anna's not my girlfriend" her brother mumbled and waved back.

"Remember what I told you about the weird ones" Damon told him.

"Yeah but she's really weird"

"Wait, wait. Back up. Who is Anna?" Elena demanded.

"She's just a girl at school and she kind of follows me around"

"She follows you?"

That was worrying.

"Not like stalker follows me but it seems like she pops up a lot. Like right now"

"Do you like her?" Elena asked.

"Yeah she's nice and she's pretty smart. She knows a lot about history and stuff. Actually she really wanted to read our great, great grandfather's journal but I gave it to Mr. Saltzman to read and he's not done with it yet."

"The journal Dad gave you? Why would she want that?"

Jeremy shrugged.

"I have no idea. He was a crazy guy and most of it is pretty strange. I guess I should go say hi to her though"

Elena was about to object but Damon put a hand on her leg and gave her a look.

"Yeah you wouldn't want to be rude" he said and gave Jeremy a thin smile.

She waited until her brother was talking to Anna across the restaurant to smack Damon on the arm.

"What was that? You want him dating creepy stalker girl?"

"No actually I don't want him anywhere near her when we can't keep an eye on them. Seeing as she's a vampire and all" Damon whispered the last part in her ear.

"She's a _what_?" Elena hissed back at him.

"Keep it down. She can probably hear us" he said quietly.

Elena tucked her head into his shoulder so she could whisper in his ear.

"How long have you known about this?" she asked angrily.

"That she was here? A couple of weeks I guess. It wasn't important at the time so I didn't tell you" he mumbled against her ear.

"Who is she?"

"She's one of the vampires from Katherine's 1864 posse. I know her mother is in the tomb under the old church and I assumed Anna was down there too but I apparently I was mistaken"

"Why does she want the journal?"

"No clue. But I don't think we should let her have it"

"Why don't you tell your 'buddy' Mr. Saltzman to just hang on to it for us?"

"He's not my buddy, Elena"

"Could'a fooled me" she said.

Damon shot her a dark look and she sat up, annoyed that he was still denying it. The waitress brought their food and they ate in silence.

"Are you going to give me the silent treatment for the rest of the night?" he asked huffily.

"I just don't like being lied to and you've always been so honest with me, I don't know what to say when I _know _that you're lying to me"

Something she couldn't read flashed briefly over his face and he sighed heavily.

"I need you to be safe, Elena. I'm just trying to keep you safe"

"By lying to me?"

"The less you know the better"

"I know I'm in a fragile state or whatever but keeping me in the dark just puts me in more danger. I can't prepare for threats if I don't even know they exist"

"I don't want you to live your life in fear"

"No matter what you tell me, I'm not going to stop living my life. But if I need to be more cautious then you have to tell me, Damon" she said urgently.

"You need to be cautious" he told her

"Tell me why" she insisted, exasperated.

That penetrating blue gaze held her eyes for a long moment and that strange look flickered over his handsome face again.

"Fine. Stay at my place tonight and I will"

"Are you messing with me?"

"No, I think you're right. I can't expect you to take a threat seriously if you don't know what it is"

"Ok deal. But you're not distracting me with sex"

He gave her an affable smile and stole a French fry off her plate.

"Let's get out of here" he mumbled in that voice that made her knees weak.

"I can't leave Jeremy here with that girl"

She watched warily as her brother and the teenage vampire played their second game of pool.

"I'll go tell him we're leaving after his game is over" Damon told her and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

The girl looked annoyed when Damon spoke but Jeremy nodded obediently. Elena watched them like a hawk while they finished the game.

"Stop glaring at her" Damon told her.

"Why?"

"Because she's getting the impression you don't like her"

"How do you know?"

"Because she just told Jeremy that you're glaring at her and she gets the impression you don't like her"

"What did Jeremy say?"

"That you're overprotective"

It was true. She was overprotective but right now she didn't care.

"I don't think she wants to hurt him. I think she might actually like him" Damon said.

"What makes you think that?"

"She could have snatched him a long time ago but so far she hasn't touched a hair on his head. Why do that unless she has a thing for him?"

Elena chewed on that for a moment. It was hardly fair for her to say dating vampires was a bad idea but she needed to know what Anna's intentions were before she allowed him to get close to her little brother. She had no doubts about Damon and until she felt the same way about Anna, Jeremy was going to have to deal with having an overprotective sister.

"I still don't like it. You said it yourself, not all vampires are like you and Stefan. What if she doesn't have her humanity on?"

"It's just a theory. We're still not going to leave Jer alone with her" he told her.

"We can't let anything happen to Jeremy. I can't lose him, Damon"

"I know and we'll keep him safe. I promise"


	17. Chapter 17 - Dangerous

**I'm baaaack…again…Sorry everyone! I started writing this chapter and then went on vacation so I didn't have access to a computer. As ever, THANK YOU so much for your amazing feedback! I really had no idea how far this story would go when I started it and I hope you all know that you're the reason I continue to write it. I think I have the ending fleshed out but it's got at least another 3 chapters in it so fingers crossed you stick with me to the end and here's hoping you enjoy the latest installment! **

**xoxo**

**P.S. – jairem, I touched him not once but two amazingly heart stopping times. He held my hand when I got his autograph and I got my picture taken with him so he had his arm around me. I almost died :) **

**Chapter 17 – Dangerous **

Elena angled her way over to the bar and told Jenna that they were dropping Jeremy off and that she was spending the night at Damon's. Mr. Saltzman looked slightly shocked when Jenna said nothing about her staying at Damon's but he covered it quickly and offered Jenna a ride home. Her aunt readily agreed and she smiled widely at the two of them. She wasn't sure if it was the pregnant hormones, or just that she was wildly in love herself, but she really wanted these two people to be happy together. They were so well suited for one another.

"Have fun you two" Elena said sweetly and headed over to the door where the guys were waiting for her.

They stepped outside and Damon instantly froze next to her. Jeremy was distracted by his phone but a chill ran up her spine and she knew something was out there.

"**G**o to the car. Now" he whispered urgently to Elena.

From the moment he'd accepted the baby was his, every one of his senses seemed to be on high alert. Damon prided himself on the control he had over his vampire nature and the power that came with it but lately his heightened senses were turned up to eleven and there was no controlling them. Like right now. He could feel someone watching them and somehow he was sure he knew who it was. A whiff of a familiar expensive perfume confirmed his suspicions and he doubted she was here to introduce herself to her daughter. No, the Isobel he'd known was cold, calculating, and loved no one but herself. The moment she turned, she flipped the switch and never turned it back on. She might be curious about her human child but she wasn't here for a family reunion.

"Damon, what is it?" Elena asked, sounding scared.

"Nothing good. Get to the car and lock the doors"

She looked like she might argue for a moment but she grabbed Jeremy's arm and pulled him toward the car.

"Jesus, Elena! What the hell?" her brother yelled and fumbled with his phone.

"I don't feel well and Damon left his wallet inside so I need to you to walk me to the car"

She was getting marginally better at the lying thing. The moment they rounded the corner to the parking lot, he flew across the street to the park and slammed a shocked looking Isobel into a tree. With a snarl he dragged her up by her neck, allowing her just enough air to speak.

"Well if it isn't my immortal maker" she rasped.

"What do you want?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that? After all, you seem to be dating my daughter"

"Elena is not your daughter"

"I beg to differ" Isobel sneered and started to struggle

Damon squeezed hard on her neck.

"You and John may have donated your DNA but Elena is Miranda and Grayson Gilbert's daughter. You abandoned her" he said snidely.

Even with no humanity, he got the impression that Isobel had a soft spot for Elena. If she felt nothing for her daughter Elena would already be dead. Anger flared behind her lovely green eyes as her true face took over and she bared her fangs and hissed at him. She reached up and grabbed the hand around her neck. Before he could stop her, she broke three of his fingers. He dropped her with a shout of pain while the bones popped back into place. Isobel looked triumphant for a fraction of a second but a trace of fear crept into her eyes when he growled low in his chest and in a flurry of movement he wrenched her arm behind her back, dislocating her shoulder and snapping her wrist. Damon twisted her wrist until her hand was facing the completely wrong direction and she let out a strangled scream. She would have to break it again to put it back where it belonged.

"Don't fuck with me, Isobel. Why are you here?"

"I came to warn you. If you're not careful you're going to draw Katherine back to Mystic Falls and trust me when I say that would not be good for you or Elena"

"What do you know about Katherine?" he demanded.

Isobel didn't say anything so he slammed her face first into the tree and heard her cheekbone crack. He drew back his free hand and punched through the skin and bone of her shoulder blade to grab hold of her heart. Isobel gasped in pain but stayed very still.

"You do not want to mess with me or the people I care about. Start talking or I tear your heart out" he said and tightened his fist around the slimy, thumping organ in his hand to make his point.

"She's in New York. She doesn't know about Elena but if that stupid little vampire gets her hands on the Gilbert journal, she'll be here faster than you can blink" the words came out in rapid fire and he loosened his grip.

"What are you talking about? Why would Katherine care about the Gilbert journal?"

"Because that journal contains the spell needed to open the tomb under the old church"

"So? Even if she has the spell, she needs the crystal. And why would she want to open the tomb anyway?"

"She has the crystal, Damon. She wants to open the tomb to get her mother back. Surely you remember Pearl?"

"Yes, I remember Pearl. Let me guess, Katherine is afraid her old friend would want revenge if she gets out of the tomb?"

"Pearl and all the other vampires that she left down there to rot"

"How do you know all this?"

"Katherine and I became good friends shortly after you turned me. We got a little drunk one night and she told me the story of what happened here in 1864. But that doesn't matter. What matters is keeping Elena safe. I might be a monster but the least I can do for my daughter is to keep her alive."

"Stay away from Elena"

He didn't care if Isobel was her mother. There was no way he was letting a humanity free vampire anywhere near her.

"You don't have to worry about that. I don't want her to know me."

Damon let go of her heart and dislodged his fist from her back to step away from her.

"I want you to leave" he said as he shook her blood off of his hand.

"Not before you tell me what you're doing with Elena. Is she your pet?" Isobel asked curiously.

"No she is not my _pet_" he said disgusted.

"Then what?" she asked doubtfully.

"She's my…we're together"

"You love her"

He didn't answer.

"You'll protect her" Isobel sounded strangely relieved.

Damon nodded curtly.

"Alright then, I'll go but you have to promise me you'll keep that journal away from Annabelle."

"I promise. She's not going to open that tomb"

Without another word, she disappeared. A thousand things ran through his mind. For a moment he seriously considered kidnapping Elena and taking her to some far away island but he wanted her to keep speaking to him so he grudgingly let the idea go. He paced furiously for a few seconds before he remembered that she was alone in his car with Jeremy. _Fuck _he thought and zipped back across the street to the parking lot. The lump of worry in his stomach disappeared when he saw her safely seated in the passenger seat of the Camaro looking impatient.

"Dude that took forever" Jeremy commented when he slid behind the wheel.

"I ran into an old friend" he said and started the car.

"Is that blood on your hand?" Elena whispered to him.

Damon shot her a look that he hoped said _do you really want to discuss this now? _She got the message sat back in her seat with an annoyed expression. They dropped her brother off at her house and drove silently to the boarding house.

"Ok so spill. Tell me everything" she insisted the moment they were through his front door.

It would seem she wasn't kidding about not sidetracking her with sex. Still, he wasn't a man who was easily deterred.

"How about we lay on the couch and talk?" he suggested.

"No laying until we talk" Elena told him resolutely.

Damon frowned. _Stubborn girl _he thought scornfully.

"Alright, have it your way. Can we at least sit on the couch?"

She raised a speculative eyebrow at him, perfectly aware that there were plenty of distracting things he could do while they were sitting. Elena Gilbert knew him far too well.

"Fully clothed and I'll keep my hands to myself" he said, resigned.

Skepticism was still etched on her brow but she followed him to the living room and sat on the couch next to him. Katherine seemed like the right place to start since she was his biggest concern. Isobel was right, one glimpse of Elena and Katherine would be like a cat with a mouse. She'd play with her for a while and then she'd tear her throat open for fun.

"Katherine isn't dead and she isn't in the tomb. She never was"

Elena's jaw dropped.

"What? Who told you that?"

"Strangely enough, your Uncle John did"

"How does he even know about her?"

"Even stranger, she hangs out with your biological mother, Isobel. That's who I ran into tonight outside the grill. She was watching us from the park."

"Is that her blood on your hand?" she asked.

He nodded. Elena said nothing as she got up and went to the kitchen and returned with a damp towel.

"So what did Isobel want?" she asked and handed him the towel.

"She came to warn us about Anna. Apparently Jeremy's little stalker wants the journal to open the tomb and free her mother. If she pulls it off, she's going to draw Katherine to Mystic Falls because Katherine is afraid the vampires she trapped in there will want revenge" he told her as he wiped his hand off.

"How will the journal help her open the tomb? And doesn't she need the crystal thing you told me about?"

Damon explained about the spell and Anna having the crystal.

"She's probably had the damn thing the whole time which is why I could never find it" he told her.

"You said something about a comet too, didn't you? There's a comet passing over Mystic Falls in two weeks. That's why she keeps pestering Jeremy for the journal"

He nodded grimly as the pieces fell together in his mind.

"Is Isobel still here?" Elena asked after a few moments of contemplative silence.

She didn't say the words but he could hear them in her voice, she wanted to meet her birth mother. He could hardly blame her but, much as it pained him to do it, he had to talk her out of it.

"No, she's gone and I think it's for the best" he said gently.

"She…she didn't want to meet me?"

"No, she didn't"

Tears welled behind her eyes but she blinked them back and nodded stiffly.

"Did she say why?"

"Her humanity is off, Elena. It's been off for a long time and she doesn't want to turn it back on. She's got ice in her veins. People are just food and entertainment to her"

She nodded again but he could see the hurt etched on her brow. Damon couldn't imagine anything he could say that would make her feel better so he took her hand. Elena leaned into him and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Katherine has really been out this entire time?" she asked.

"Yep"

"And she never tried to contact you even once?"

"Nope"

"What a bitch"

He chuckled.

"That's exactly what Stefan said."

"Is she the reason you won't let me out of your sight?"

"She's a big part of it, yes"

"Why? What would she want with me?"

"Because she's jealous and conceited and she wouldn't like sharing a face with you. She probably wouldn't like that we're together either. God knows what she would do if she found out about the baby. Katherine always wants what she can't have and if she can't have it, she destroys it"

"How did you ever love this person, Damon?" Elena asked, sounding bewildered.

"I've been wondering that myself lately"

"You said she was a big part of it. Is there anything or anyone else I need to watch out for?"

"Nobody specific but I haven't spent the last hundred years saving kittens. I've made some scary enemies, Elena. Just keep your eye out for anyone who seems out of place or rubs you the wrong way. You have good instincts. Use them"

She sighed and leaned back against the couch.

"How did our lives get to weird?"

"I'm a vampire. My life has been weird for a really long time but I'm sorry you got dragged into it"

"It's not like I went into this kicking and screaming. I love you, Damon and I wouldn't take a second of it back. Besides, we're meant for each other. Remember?"

The corners of his mouth ticked up into a sly grin and he walked his fingers up her thigh to the hem of her shirt.

"So is confession time over?" he asked suggestively.

"You're insatiable" Elena said but there was an encouraging sparkle in her eyes.

"Mm-hmm" he agreed.

She smiled affectionately and reached up to cup his face as she brushed her lips over his. A half second later he'd scooped her up in his arms and sped up the stairs. They spent the rest of the night in his bed and it didn't occur to him until the next morning that he'd never heard Stefan come home. To be fair, he'd been thoroughly distracted by the gorgeous girl whose backside was currently snuggled against his front. It was still odd, though. Usually he heard his brother come up the stairs at some point during the night but even now he couldn't hear any signs that Stefan was in the house. For a brief second he wondered if maybe he'd found a woman to go home with but that idea was almost laughable. Carefully, he untangled himself from Elena and got dressed.

"Stefan?" he whispered when he stepped into the hallway.

No answer.

"Stef, you home?" he called a little louder.

Still nothing. Concern started to edge its way into his brain so he dug out his phone and dialed his brother's number. Stefan's voicemail picked up after the fourth ring and Damon frowned. He called him again but once again got the recording of his brother's voice politely telling him to leave a message.

"It's me. Call me back" he told the voicemail and hung up.

"Hey, is everything ok?" Elena asked as she poked her head out of his bedroom door, clad in one of his black t-shirts.

"I'm not sure. Stefan didn't come home last night and he's not answering his phone"

Her brow furrowed.

"That's weird. Where could he be?"

"I have no idea" he said and realized it was true.

He honestly had no clue where Stefan would go if he didn't come home.

"Is his car here?" she asked.

"Not sure" he said and zipped down to the garage.

Strangely, the little red car was safely in its spot.

"Curiouser and curiouser. His car is here" he told her when he came back into the house and she was waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs.

"Can you call Sheriff Forbes and ask her to keep an eye out for him?"

"Good idea" he told her and picked up his phone again.

A few minutes later he'd convinced Liz to keep an eye out for Stefan and he made his way to the kitchen to find Elena making coffee. He plopped down at the table and she set a steaming mug in front of him.

"You're worried" she commented as she took the seat next to him.

"It's just not like him"

"I'm sure he's fine" she told him but he could hear the uncertainty in her tone.

He gave her a tight smile and stared at the phone willing it to ring. To his surprise a moment later the screen lit up and "Liz Forbes" flashed across the readout.

"Hey Liz, did you find him?" he asked when he answered.

"No, I'm sorry Damon. I'm calling because I think we have another vampire on our hands. We just found a girl's body in the woods. She was drained of blood and her head…it's almost torn off."

A shiver of ice cold dread rolled down his spine.

"Where was this body?"

"About a quarter mile away from the falls"

"How can I help?" he asked, trying to keep his voice steady.

"I just wondered if you'd ever seen anything like this before. I've seen my fair share of vampire attacks but this one is especially brutal"

"Can't say that I have" he lied.

"Ok well watch your back and keep Elena close. This girl can't be more than a year or two older than her"

"Will do. Thanks, Sherriff"

When she hung up, Damon immediately started dialing again.

"Who are you calling now?" Elena asked.

"Your teacher"

"Mr. Saltzman? Why?"

He held up his hand to shush her and stood up to pace the kitchen.

"Ric, do you still have those vervain darts?" he asked the moment the teacher picked up.

"Yeah…"

"Good, I need a few of them"

"For what?"

"I just do. Can I come by and grab them from you?"

"Not unless you tell me why you need them"

"Ok then how about I just kill you and take them?"

There was a moment of silence.

"Fine. Meet me at the school in twenty minutes" Ric said and hung up.

"Damon, what's going on?" Elena demanded when he hung up.

"You stay here…actually on second thought, come with me. I don't want you here alone if Stefan shows up"

"What's the matter? Why wouldn't you want me here alone with Stefan?"

"Get dressed. We have to go" he said, ignoring her questions.

"I hate when you do this. Stop. Sit. Explain" she said sounding frustrated.

"I'll explain in the car. Put some clothes on and let's go"

"A 'please' would be nice" she told him but got up and went to the bedroom.

Ten minutes later she trotted down the stairs and he handed her a jacket before grabbing her hand and pulling her toward the door.

"Damon, slow down! What is your problem?" she asked as he tore out of the driveway.

"Have I ever told you why Stefan doesn't drink human blood?"

"You said he can't control himself"

"By 'can't control himself' I mean he tears people apart. He gets so caught up in the bloodlust that he literally tears people limb from limb"

"Ok, that doesn't explain why you're driving like a crazy person"

"The sheriff just found a body in the woods with a nearly severed head and it had been drained of blood"

"You don't think Stefan…"

"I don't know what to think but if we find Stefan in Ripper mode, we're going to need the vervain"

Fifteen minutes later they pulled up next to Ric's car in the school parking lot. The teacher was leaned up against the trunk waiting for them. Damon hopped out of the car and Ric popped his trunk.

"Seriously man, what do you need these for?" Ric asked again as he handed Damon a canvas bag with vervain darts and a dart gun.

"I might need to take down a vampire without killing it"

"Why? What vampire?"

Damon gave him a dark look.

"C'mon, you can trust me. Let me come with you. You might need backup" Ric said and looked pointedly at Elena in the passenger seat.

_Fucking hell _he thought. Once again, the man had a point. He couldn't put Stefan down and keep an eye on Elena at the same time. Unfortunately that meant he was going to have to tell Elena that she was right about he and Ric working together.

"Get in the car" he snapped.

Ric grabbed the second dart gun from the floor of his trunk and climbed into the back seat.

"Hi Mr. Saltzman" Elena said politely as Damon got back into the driver's seat.

"You know, I think under the circumstances you can call me Ric when we're not at school" the teacher told her.

"Ok, Ric it is. So Ric, how long have you and Damon been friends?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at Damon.

He cringed inwardly. He probably should have come clean about it last night but there was no going back now. Ric glanced at him in the rearview mirror and Damon just shrugged. The cat was out of the bag now.

"Not long…" Ric responded and busied himself loading the dart gun.

"We're more allies than friends" Damon clarified.

Elena rolled her eyes at him but said nothing else about it.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"We're going to start in the woods where they found the body"

"Wait, what body?" Ric said, looking alarmed.

"They found a nearly headless body drained of blood this morning"

"And you think a vampire did it?"

"How often do you find bodies completely drained of blood that weren't vampire attacks?"

"I don't find that many bodies"

"You should work on that if you're going to play vampire hunter"

Ric scowled at him from the back seat.

"So if you think a vampire did this, why are we going after it with vervain and not a wooden stake?"

"Because the vampire could potentially be my brother"

"Stefan?"

"He's the only brother I have"

"But…"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. He's the good brother. He doesn't kill people. Newsflash: all vampires kill people at some point during their existence. Even Stefan. The question is _why _he would kill someone when he hasn't touched human blood since the mid 1920's?"


	18. Chapter 18 - Leverage

**This is a fairly action packed chapter and I hope you all enjoy it! It's on the longer side in an attempt to make up for the slow coming updates. Knowing how you want a story to end and actually putting it down on 'paper' are two very different things so I'm doing my best to make these last few chapters the best they can be. You know I'll be gnawing my hand off waiting for your feedback so please review if you're able! **

**xoxo**

**p.s. – our favorite evil vixen will be making an appearance very soon so be prepared for a dose of true villainy ;) **

**Chapter 18 – Leverage **

Damon stopped at the edge of the woods and the three of them got out of the car. They walked through the trees until Elena spotted the yellow crime scene tape sectioning off a small square of forest floor. The body had been removed but as they got closer Damon could smell the blood. They halted in front of the tape and stared at the spot on the ground.

"Ok so now what?" Ric asked.

Damon was about to answer when he noticed Elena cock her head to the side and walk away from the crime scene.

"Is there blood on that tree?" she asked and squinted at a tree a few feet away.

He followed her gaze to a tree with a low hanging branch and sure enough, there were dark stains on the leaves.

"Good eye" he told her and made his way over to the tree.

He sniffed at the leaves to confirm that it was blood and suddenly realized that there was blood on several other trees that surrounded the crime scene. Stefan was a messy eater but he didn't think blood would've ended up twenty feet away from where the girl had died. The only other explanation was that it had been put there on purpose.

"Someone was baiting him" Damon said as much to himself as to his companions.

Elena gave him a curious look.

"There's human blood on half the trees within a fifty foot radius of us" he explained and waved his arm in a circle.

"I've seen Stefan around human blood before. He always walks away. Why would this time be any different?" Elena asked.

"The girl was probably already bleeding when he found her and she was probably compelled to offer herself to him. It would be like waving heroin in front of an ex-addict. No way could he have stopped himself."

"But why would someone do that?" she wondered.

It only took a second for the answer to hit him.

"Leverage"

"Leverage? For what?" Ric chimed in.

"The goddamn journal" Damon said and cursed himself for not warning Stefan about Anna the night before.

"The Gilbert journal?"

"No, Stefan's diary. Yes, the Gilbert Journal" he said sarcastically.

Elena's eyes met his with a grim expression.

"Anna has him, she kidnapped Stefan and she's going to try and exchange him for the journal" she said, her voice laced with anxiety.

"Fuck!" Damon yelled and kicked a tree hard enough to send bark flying.

"What do we do now?" Ric asked.

"I don't know" he said scornfully.

Damon didn't do helpless well. It was incredibly frustrating for a creature that was more often than not the most dangerous thing on two legs, or four for that matter. Throw a missing brother into the mix and he started to feel downright murderous.

"Maybe we should call Bonnie and Sheila? Anna is going to need someone to do the spell, right?"

He nodded absently. It was taking all of his willpower to keep the vampire in check and he was having trouble concentrating. Watching Elena seemed to help so he stayed as near to her as he possibly could but he could still feel the monster just under the surface.

"Maybe you should call Jeremy and make sure she doesn't have him, too" Ric told her

Panic washed over her face and she frantically tugged her cell phone out of her pocket.

"Jeremy?" she said with the phone to her ear a few seconds later.

"_Yeah?" _he heard the boy say.

"Where are you?"

"_At home, why? You sound worried. What's going on?" _

She chewed her lip for a moment.

"I think you should stay away from Anna. She's completely obsessed with that journal. She practically attacked me today, ranting about vampires and how the journal would prove they were real. I think she might be crazy"

"_Um, well…she just sort of invited herself over a few minutes ago" _

"Listen to me Jer, whatever you do, do not invite her into the house. Call her back and tell her you're busy. If she comes over anyway, don't answer the door"

"_Don't you think that's a bit extreme?" _

"We don't know what she's capable of. Please Jeremy, promise me you won't let her into our house and you'll stay away from her"

"_Ok, ok, I promise" _

"And stay home tonight, will you?"

"_What exactly do you think she's going to do to me? She's like 5'4" and weighs 100 pounds" _

"You never know what crazy people will do. If she has a gun or a knife, it won't matter how small she is" Elena reasoned.

"_Alright, I'll stay in tonight. I have a new video game I want to play anyway" _

"Thank you. I'll be home as soon as I can, ok?" she said, sounding reassured.

"_Will you bring Damon? This game is better with two players" _

"Sure, of course. He'll be with me"

"_Cool. See you later" _

"See you" she said and hung up.

"Did you just think of that off the top of your head?" Damon asked her, impressed.

"Uh-huh, was it believable?"

"It was great"

"I don't like lying to him" Elena said ruefully.

"You're just trying to keep him safe" Ric said, clearly trying to make her feel better.

"I know but I still don't like it"

Damon gave her an apologetic smile since it was his fault she had to lie in the first place. She smiled back at him briefly and sighed before dialing the phone again. After she explained the situation to Bonnie, they decided to meet at the Bennett house to decide what to do.

"Ric, where is the journal now?" Damon asked once they were on the way over to Bonnie's.

"In my jacket pocket" he replied and patted the left breast of the coat he was wearing.

Damon nodded in approval.

"Don't let it out of your sight"

"I won't"

"Shouldn't Anna have called us about Stefan by now? I mean, if she's using him as leverage then shouldn't she have called to make some kind of demand?" Elena wondered aloud.

The same thought had been nagging at him since they'd left the forest twenty minutes ago and both scenarios he'd come up with were equally grim. Either she'd already gotten what she wanted from him and killed him or she was torturing him. Damon couldn't bring himself to say them out loud so he stayed quiet and stared straight ahead.

"You don't think she…" her voice wavered.

"I can't think that. _We _can't think that" he told her resolutely.

Elena nodded but the worry was carved into her brow and it was still there when they pulled up to the curb in front of Bonnie's house. He was hoping Sheila would have an idea, any idea, because he was at a complete loss. They had no way of knowing where Anna could be or what she was doing to his brother and it was gnawing at the vampire in him. _Turn it off _it told him _kill everyone in this town until you find the stupid little bitch and then kill her, too. _Thinking about killing Anna was an appealing idea and it had the blood rushing under his skin before he could stop it. Then Stefan's voice telling him to fight it filled his ears and brought him back to himself. He took a deep breath and tamped the vampire face down before he cut the engine to the car.

"Damon, wait" Elena called as Ric headed toward the front door ahead of them.

He paused and looked at her expectantly. She grabbed his hand and pulled him back toward the car.

"I saw your face when we pulled up. You should eat something" she said and opened her purse to produce a solid blue water bottle.

He could smell the blood inside of it and he stared at her in amazement as he took the bottle from her outstretched hand.

"Thanks" he said gratefully and downed the contents.

Elena held her hand out for the empty bottle and he gave it back to her with a bemused smirk.

"What're you grinning at?" she asked him with a raised eyebrow.

"How long have you been carrying a bottle of blood around in your purse?"

"I don't know, a while I guess. I just like to be prepared" she said, sounding a little defensive.

"You're perfect" he told her and laced his fingers through hers.

**E**lena gripped his hand tightly as they walked into the Bennett house. They found Ric sitting on the living room couch across from a pensive looking Sheila.

"Hi Grams" she said and sat down in the easy chair next to the older woman.

"Hey honey. How're you doing?" 

"I'm ok. Worried about Stefan"

"I imagine you are. And how are you Mr. Salvatore?" she asked, directing her eyes toward Damon.

"I'm fine" he said, his voice tight as he took the empty seat next to Ric on the couch.

Damon was not fine and Elena knew it. She had only seen his vampire face a handful of times and she'd never seen him unable to control it so when the veins appeared on his face as they pulled up to the house, she knew he was on the verge of losing it. If only she knew what him 'losing it' meant. Stefan had told her over and over that before meeting her, Damon's impulse control was all but non-existent so she had no idea what to expect if he was pushed too far. She imagined it would look something like the night he'd killed Zach but she'd been mostly unconscious for that.

"Hey, Elena"

Bonnie's voice broke through her nervous thoughts and she smiled up at her friend in greeting.

"We just go from one crisis to the next these days, don't we?" Bonnie said.

"At least life is never boring"

Bonnie smiled thinly and sat on the arm of Elena's chair.

"So what do we know about Anna and why she took Stefan?"

"She's older than me by a couple of decades, her mother is trapped in the tomb under the old church, and she needs a spell that's in the Gilbert journal to get her out. We think she took Stefan as leverage for the journal but if we let her have it, she's going to catch Katherine's attention and we need to keep Katherine as far away from Elena has possible" Damon told her.

"She also needs a Bennett witch to break the spell on the tomb. There are a few cousins out there but Bonnie and I are the only ones with enough magic to do it. I'm curious as to how she thinks she's going to convince us to perform the spell for her" Grams commented.

"How did Johnathon Gilbert get his hands on a spell like that anyway?" Ric asked.

"Emily probably gave it to him. God knows why but she had a thing for him. Half of his so called 'inventions' were spelled by Emily"

An angry look passed over Damon's face and Elena saw him clench his jaw.

"And then he stood by and watched while the town burned her alive" he snarled under his breath.

Grams nodded with an equally angry expression on her face. No one said anything for a long minute and then Damon's phone chirped in his pocket.

"It's Stefan's number" he said before he tapped the green 'answer' button.

"Yeah?" he said into the receiver.

"Yes, I know who this is. What do you want?"

The person on the other end, Elena presumed it was Anna, said something.

"Yes, I'm with the Bennett witches" he replied.

She said something else and Damon raised his eyebrows in surprise. He pulled the phone away from his ear to hit the 'speaker' button and set the phone on the table.

"Ok, you're on speaker"

"Good" a female voice came from the device.

"Listen carefully; I want a Bennett witch to meet me at the old church with the journal in two weeks or I unleash my Ripper friend here on this pathetic little town"

Damon's face fell at the word ripper and she heard Grams suck in an audible breath.

"What have you done to my brother?"

"Don't worry about Stefan. I've got him on a steady diet of human blood. If everything goes to plan, you can have him back and put him back on his sad animal diet. Oh and in case you were thinking about trying to find me before the night of the comet, I've got your little blonde friend here with me too. If I so much as catch even a whiff of a rescue attempt, I'm going to her slice her open and hand her over to Stefan"

Elena gave Damon a panicked look but he held his finger to his mouth signaling her to keep quiet.

"I want to talk to Stefan" he demanded.

"Not going to happen"

"How do I know you haven't killed him and the girl?"

"You'll just have to trust me"

"Kidnapping does not inspire trust, Annabelle. I want to talk to my brother"

There was a moment of silence and then some shuffling sounds.

"Say hello to your brother" Anna said.

"Damon?" Stefan's voice was strained.

"I'm here, little brother" he said.

"She has Caroline here, too" Stefan croaked.

"I know"

"I don't want to hurt her but I can't control it, Damon. The Ripper…"

"I know, Stef. I won't let you hurt anyone"

"There, now you've heard his voice and you know I wasn't bluffing about the girl either. So do what I say or a lot of people are going to die" Anna said and hung up.

A lump of dread was lodged in Elena's throat and the look on Damon's face only intensified the feeling. After a moment he jumped to his feet and stormed out the front door. She followed after him and found him standing on the porch with his back to her and his hands balled into white knuckled fists.

"Damon?" she said gently.

He whirled around to face her and she sucked in a tiny breath when she saw his wild red eyes and the purple veins moving rapidly under his skin.

"Go back inside, Elena"

"No, I'm staying with you"

"No, you aren't"

"Yes, I am"

In the blink of an eye he was inches from her face, the vampire still in full force.

"Go. Back. Inside. Now!" he barked at her.

Elena had never been this up close and personal with angry vampire Damon and she had to admit, he was pretty terrifying but she refused to let it faze her.

"You can't compel me and you don't get to order me around. I'm not leaving you alone"

Damon growled low in his chest and his lip curled up to expose the deadly incisors. Her heart jumped in her chest but she didn't move. She knew he wouldn't hurt her. Then, as quick as he'd moved to stand in front of her, he zipped away and was in his car before she could even get a word out. Elena ran down the porch steps but he was gone before she even got to the bottom one.

"Damnit!" she screamed as hot tears formed behind her eyes.

She sat down on the top step and put her head in her hands. Vaguely, she heard the front door open and close. Someone sat down next to her and she felt a strong hand on her shoulder.

"Where did Damon go?" Ric's voice was quiet and patient.

"I don't know. He just left"

"Maybe he just needed a minute to cool off"

"He didn't look like he was going to cool off. He looked like he was going to kill someone"

"Do you want to go find him? I'll go with you"

"I don't know. I have no idea where he would go"

Before Ric could reply, there was a blur of movement and suddenly Elena felt her throat constrict as she was lifted off the ground. Her lungs struggled for breath as she looked down to find Anna holding her up by her neck with a vicious look on her face.

"What did you say to Jeremy?" the vampire hissed up at her.

"I…can't…breathe" she rasped and scratched uselessly at the hand clamped tightly around her neck.

"Bonnie!" Ric yelled as he leapt to his feet.

Anna seemed to notice him for the first time and she snarled at him but made no move to release Elena. Instead, her grip seemed to get even tighter.

"He won't take my calls and he won't answer the door at your house. _What did you say to him?" _

Blackness started to creep around the edges of Elena's vision and a strange sensation came over her; she could actually feel the life leaving her body. She felt her brain start to go numb and her limbs started to feel weak. Yet, somehow none of that mattered. The only thing that mattered, the only thought her brain seemed to be able to come up with was _my baby, don't hurt my baby. _With the last of her strength, she tried to kick out at Anna. It was no use. Damon's face flashed through her mind along with the unbearable thought that she might die here and never see him again, or worse that they would never get to meet their baby. Then there was an ear splitting screech and she felt herself drop for a second before Ric caught her just before she hit the ground. Gently, he set her down on the porch as she gasped for breath and tried to take in what was happening around her. Bonnie was standing next to her with her hand outstretched and she appeared to be clutching at something invisible. Sheila was on the other side of her, mirroring Bonnie's action with her own hand. There was another scream and now she could see that it had some from Anna. The vampire had stumbled backwards and was on her knees with her hands gripping either side of her head.

"You dare come to _my _house, vampire?" Sheila shouted her eyes wide and heated as she slowly curled her fingers into a fist.

Anna shrieked and rolled onto her side.

"Stop! Stop or I'll kill the blonde!"

Sheila didn't bat an eyelash.

"If you touch one hair on Caroline Forbes' head, I will burn you to ash and you'll never see your mother again. Now get the hell of my property or I'll burst every blood vessel in your brain all at once"

The witches dropped their arms and before Elena could form a coherent thought, Anna was gone and Bonnie was kneeling down next to her a second later.

"Elena, are you ok?" her friend asked frantically.

"I'm fine. What about the baby, is the baby ok? Can you tell?"

Sheila dropped down next to her and placed her hand on Elena's stomach.

"The baby is fine. You can go to the doctor if you like but I can feel the life there and it's strong. Just like its mama"

Relief flooded her until she remembered what Anna had wanted.

"Jeremy, she's after Jeremy" she said urgently.

"He's fine, I just talked to him. He's at home and he did exactly what you told him to. Which I imagine, is what prompted Anna's visit" Ric said as he came back onto the porch with them.

"Where is Damon?" Bonnie asked suddenly, as though she had just noticed that he wasn't there.

**T**he waitress in his arms was fading fast. He could feel the life draining out of her as her body sagged and her breathing became shallow. He knew if he didn't stop drinking in the next few seconds, she was going to die. The idea of her death made the vampire in him giddy. _Kill her _it whispered to him _you'll feel better if you kill her._ He sucked harder at the wound. _STOP _a different voice in his head screamed and it sounded eerily like his brother. He ignored it and took another long pull from her throat but the voice echoed in his mind again. _Stop! Don't do this! Think of Elena! _The face of the girl he loved appeared behind his eyes and, with herculean effort, Damon tore his mouth away from the waitress's neck and let go of her. She wobbled on her feet but he didn't bother to help her. He was too caught up in the taste of her blood on his tongue. It had been months since he'd tasted fresh blood. It coursed through his system like an electric current, zinging through his veins and bringing a strange sense of clarity to his mind. The girl, Melissa according to her name tag, leaned back against the brick wall of the dive bar he'd found on the outskirts of a town many miles away from Mystic Falls.

"I don't feel well" she mumbled and pressed her hand to her bleeding neck.

Damon sighed and pricked his finger with a fang. He grabbed the back of her head and pressed her mouth to his finger, forcing a few drops of his blood into her mouth. The wound at her neck healed in seconds and he pushed her away.

"You came outside for some fresh air and you cut your hand. I'm going to count back from five and when I get to one, you're going to forget that this ever happened" he compelled her.

She nodded and he grabbed her hand to slice it open with his fang for one last little taste and to give an explanation for why she had blood stains on her shirt.

"Ok, here we go. Five…four…three…two…one" he took small steps backward as he counted.

When he said 'one' the glazed expression on her face disappeared and she gave him a strange look.

"Uh hi. Do I know you?" she asked uncertainly and looked around.

"Nope. I saw you back here and I was hoping you could tell me where the nearest gas station is"

"Um yeah, it's about ten miles south of here"

"Thanks. Did you know that you're bleeding?"

Melissa glanced down at the hand that was dripping crimson liquid.

"Oh! Wow I cut myself pretty bad"

"Yeah you should probably go bandage that up" he told her.

"Right, thanks" she said and hurried back into the bar through the back door.

Damon stood there for another minute to compose himself and then he walked back to his car. _Shit _he thought the moment he sat down behind the wheel. The analogy he'd given Elena about Ramen noodles and steak came to mind as he recounted the last hour. It had almost been too easy to talk the girl into going out back with him. All he had to do was ask her to bum a smoke and she'd followed him like a lost puppy. Except to prevent her from screaming, he hadn't even needed to use compulsion. The mixture of power and blood was heady and he was having a hard time shaking it. The violently impulsive vampire in him wanted very badly to drive off into the sunset and never look back but the man, the man who had a pregnant girlfriend and a kidnapped brother, won out and he aimed his wheels toward home. He needed to see Elena. She was going to be livid but she would bring him back to earth and he desperately needed a dose of reality.

**T**he rumble of a car engine outside her house cut through Elena's subconscious and her eyes flew open. Bonnie had driven her home and made her a cup of tea to help her throat. Thankfully Jeremy was still upstairs playing his game and had merely shouted down a 'hello' when she got home. She'd ended up falling asleep on the couch and when she woke, she found her friend sitting across the room watching TV.

"How's your neck?" Bonnie asked.

Elena could tell just by her expression that the bruises were worse than they had been earlier.

"It's ok. Thanks for staying with me"

"I didn't want to leave you alone"

She gave her friend an affectionate smile. The sound of the engine outside stopped and Elena dragged herself slowly to her feet.

"If you don't want to talk to him, I can tell him to go away" Bonnie offered.

"Oh no, I want to talk to him but you might not want to be here for it"

Bonnie nodded.

"Ok, I'll head home then and call you later"

Elena hugged her and walked her to the door. Damon was just getting out of his car as Bonnie was leaving and the look she slid him as she passed him on the walk way could have melted ice bergs. Her green eyes were fiery slits and she shook her head at him in disappointment. He barely acknowledged her. His eyes were trained solely on Elena and the moment they landed on her bruised neck, his leisurely pace turned to vamp speed. A fraction of a second later he was staring down at her with a mixture of horror and fury. Damon opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out, he just kept gazing down at her with that stormy look on his face.

"Where have you been?" she demanded quietly.

"I...I shouldn't have left…I just…I lost it and…Jesus, Elena what the hell happened?" he said and reached out to gently brush the tips of his fingers over her throat.

She sighed heavily. He wasn't someone who faltered with his words often and she could already feel the wall of anger she'd been building since this afternoon start to crumble.

"Come inside" she told him.


	19. Chapter 19 - The One and Only

**Have I mentioned lately how awesome you all are? You're the best readers on the whole planet and if I could, I would give every last one of you a giant hug. Seriously, you all rock :) **

**I was thinking that this story was getting near the end but now it's looking like there might be several more chapters to it. What do you guys think? Am I dragging it out too long? Should I cut to the chase or are you still enjoying the ride? **

**This probably goes without saying by now but I am eagerly awaiting your feedback so please, please review if you can. Even if it's only two words, every single review puts a smile on my face and keeps me at the keyboard! **

**xoxo**

**Chapter 19 – The One and Only **

Elena padded back to the couch and plopped down with a huff. Damon perched himself on the edge of the coffee table in front of her; his brow furrowed and his lips pursed into a thin line.

"Where were you, Damon?" she asked again.

"I never should have left you alone, Elena"

"You didn't answer the question"

His eyes flicked down to the floor and he took a deep breath.

"I took a drive. I needed to blow off some steam"

"Why do I feel like you're leaving something out?"

"It's not important"

She stared at him for a long moment trying to decide if she wanted an answer to the question that was on the tip of her tongue. She knew she had to ask it. If she didn't, it would eat at her.

"Did you hurt someone?"

"I didn't kill anyone if that's what you're asking" he replied, sounding a little bit insulted.

It was exactly what she'd been thinking and she was relieved to hear the answer but she knew there was something he wasn't telling her.

"You're still keeping something from me. What did you do?"

"I swear to you, no one is hurt or bleeding or dead. At least not because of anything I did. Can we just leave it at that, please?"

She heaved a sigh and nodded. If she was honest with herself, she wasn't sure she really wanted all the details anyway.

"What happened to your neck?" he asked.

His voice was even and cool but she could feel the anger radiating off of him.

"Anna was upset about what I said to Jeremy and she attacked me at Bonnie's house. But Grams and Bonnie took care of her and I'm pretty sure she's not going to bother me again"

Damon's face was unreadable but after a moment he reached out and took her hands.

"I will never leave you again. I promise" he told her earnestly.

"Elena?" Jeremy's voice came from behind her.

_Shit _she thought. She didn't want to tell Jeremy about the assault any more than she had wanted to tell Damon about it. She'd actually considered asking Damon for some of his blood so the marks would disappear but she didn't feel like being locked in the boarding house for twenty four hours. At least this would probably keep Jeremy away from Anna.

"What the…?" he said as he came around the couch and saw her neck.

"Your psycho stalker didn't like Elena telling you to stay away from her" Damon told him.

That wasn't how she would have phrased it and she shot him a dirty look. He shrugged unapologetically.

"Anna did that?" Jeremy asked.

Elena nodded.

"I'm sorry, Jer" she said.

"Why are you sorry? You were right. She's crazy"

Jeremy sat down next to her and put his arm around her. Elena sighed and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Well there goes my homecoming date" Jeremy said with a crooked grin.

Elena laughed and punched him on the shoulder.

"Jenna called earlier. She's going to stay on campus tonight. She has a thesis meeting in the morning and she didn't want to be late" she told them.

Damon pushed himself to his feet.

"I'll make dinner" he said and headed to the kitchen.

**C**hopping up garlic was not as therapeutic as he had hoped it would be. Even when he imagined it was Anna's head under his knife. Anger, rage, fury, none of them seemed strong enough to describe what was rolling through his entire being. It felt like slow hot lava that ached to destroy everything in its path. He didn't just want to kill Anna. He wanted to obliterate her from existence. Some small patch of his brain knew that he was mostly pissed off at himself but he decided that projecting his hate toward Anna was a better use of his time than beating himself up.

"Damon?"

He stopped dicing and turned around to face a concerned looking Elena.

"Are you ok?"

"I'm fine" he lied.

"I think that clove of garlic would disagree" she told him with a raised eyebrow.

He looked down and saw that he had gone far beyond chopping. He had pulverized it.

"You got hurt and it's my fault" he said quietly and set down the knife.

"I'm pretty sure you weren't the one trying to choke the life out of me"

"But if I'd been there she would have never gotten close to you. Just like if I had warned Stefan about her, he and Caroline would have never been kidnapped. All of this, it's all my fault" he said irritably.

"Hey, look at me" she said and wrapped her arms around his waist.

He drank in her warm brown eyes and felt the tension in his gut start to uncoil.

"You couldn't have known that any of this would happen and you can't blame yourself for Anna being a complete psycho. Everything is going to be fine. We're going to get them back. We'll survive this, just like we do everything else" she told him and got onto her tip-toes to kiss him.

Damon tugged her closer and sunk into the kiss. He dragged her arms up from his waist to twine around his neck and she parted her lips against his. A tiny 'mmm' sound came from her throat as his tongue swept across hers. He loved that sound. No one else ever heard that sound from her. It was just for him and, like most things she did, it drove him crazy. Never breaking the kiss, he slid his hands down her back to cup her ass and lift her up onto the counter. Elena's fingers tangled into the hair at the back of his neck as the kiss went from slow and sweet to fiery hot in a matter of seconds. Her legs wound around his waist and his fingers were making their way up her shirt when an awkward cough interrupted them. Annoyed, he pulled away from the kiss and glared at an uncomfortable looking Jeremy.

"Ahh, sorry…I uh…Are you still making dinner?" the kid asked sheepishly.

"Seriously?" Damon asked dryly.

"Well…yeah. I was waiting for you guys to get home before I ate and now I'm kinda starving"

"We'll pick this up later, ok?" Elena told him and maneuvered her way off the counter.

"You're lucky I like you, Little Gilbert" Damon said darkly.

"I'll just go back upstairs. Call me when dinner is ready" Jeremy said warily and edged his way out of the kitchen.

"C'mon grumpy, I'll help you cook" Elena told him with a grin.

He watched affectionately as she started chopping a new clove of garlic and tried to remember what his life was like before she came into it. The word _miserable _came to mind, which was odd because he was pretty sure he'd enjoyed killing and seducing his way through existence. Now when he thought back on the months before he'd returned to Mystic Falls he realized how lonely and bored he'd been. Elena had changed everything for him. She had given him a taste of true happiness and he couldn't imagine going back to the way things were.

"Are you just going to stand there and let me ruin dinner?" she asked with a smile.

"Of course not. You think I'd let you poison our unborn child?" he teased and took the knife from her hands.

"Oh come on, my cooking's not that bad" she pouted at him.

"Elena, I love you but you are a complete menace in the kitchen"

She grinned and bumped his shoulder with her own before sitting down at the dining room table.

"Fine, I'll just sit here and enjoy the view" she said.

They sat in comfortable silence while Damon threw together ingredients for the garlic broccoli pasta that the Gilbert family loved. It was the easiest thing in the world to make but when he tried to teach Elena and Jenna how to do it, they managed to overcook the pasta and burn the broccoli. They were either hopeless or they failed on purpose so that he would do it for them. Not that he minded but he would put his money on the latter.

"Oh! Oh my god!" Elena sat up straight with wide eyes.

"What?"

"I think I know where Anna is keeping Stefan and Caroline"

He raised his eyebrows.

"Do tell"

"I was just thinking it was strange that she showed up at the Bennett house. How did she know where I was? No way Jer told her. And then I remembered that there's a creepy old shack in the woods behind Bonnie's house. If she was on her way back there from my house, she could have seen me."

"How sure are you about this?"

"Not sure at all but we don't have anything better to go on, do we?"

Damon chewed on the information for a minute.

"How run down is this place? I mean, would it even be possible for her to keep them there?"

"Definitely. It's pretty run down but there's a big cellar that would be perfect to hide in"

"Let's check it out tonight"

"Ok but what's the plan? We just go in with gun's blazing?"

"_We_ don't go in anywhere. You stay in the car with the doors locked and the engine running. If things go south, you get the hell out of there and find help. Understand?"

"Damon…"

"No, no arguing with me about this. You're pregnant so you _stay in the car" _

She rolled her eyes but nodded.

"I mean it, Elena. She already tried to kill you once today"

"Ok, ok but I don't want you going in there by yourself. See if Ric will go with you"

"I don't need any help getting my brother back. If he's in there, I'll get him and Caroline out."

"I'm not telling you where it is unless you have back up"

He narrowed his eyes at her.

"What makes you think I couldn't find it on my own?"

"You probably could but it will take you all night. If you call Ric, it would speed up the process"

"You're pushy"

"And you're stubborn. Just do it. Please, for me?"

Elena stuck her lip out and made big doe eyes at him.

"That's playing dirty" he said as he dug his phone out of his pocket.

Damon explained the situation to Ric and told him they would come pick him up in two hours. The teacher was strangely eager to help.

"You need to get laid, buddy" Damon told him.

"You're telling me. See you in a couple hours"

"There, are you happy now?" he asked her when he hung up.

"I'll be happy when we have Stefan and Caroline back"

Two and half hours later Elena directed him down what he supposed someone might call a road. Narrow dirt pathway seemed like a more apt description to Damon as he eased the Camaro into the woods.

"This is far enough" she told him after about ten minutes.

He stopped the car and looked at her expectantly.

"The shack is about 5 minutes from here. Just keep walking straight ahead and you'll see it"

"If we're not back in an hour, get to Bonnie's house and stay there"

"I'm not leaving without you" she said firmly.

"Damnit, Elena…"

"If you're not back in an hour, I'll call Bonnie and Grams for help. Ok?"

Damon clenched his jaw and swallowed the arguments that he knew would be wasted on her.

"Just stay here, ok?" he pleaded.

"I already said I would"

"We killed her flunky and it's entirely possible that she replaced him so don't trust anyone you see out here"

"I won't" she promised.

"Alright, let's go" he told Ric and got out of the car.

The teacher climbed out of the backseat and opened his bag of goodies to hand Damon a few stakes and several vervain darts.

"Can I have a couple of those? You know, just in case?" Elena asked.

Ric handed her two stakes and two vervain darts.

"Don't do anything stupid" Damon warned her.

"I'll be fine, just go. And both of you, please be safe"

**E**lena scooted into the driver's seat and clutched one of the vervain darts in her hand. The moment Damon and Ric were out of sight, her heart started pounding in her ears and her stomach flip flopped. Every couple of minutes she could swear she saw movement in the trees but there was never anything there.

"Get it together, Elena. It's just your eyes playing tricks on you" she muttered to herself.

She'd been sitting there watching the clock for exactly twenty two minutes when the sky started to rumble and a second later the rain started. Huge drops of water plunked down in sheets, taking the forest from slightly creepy to something out of a horror movie. She half expected a serial killer with a hockey mask and a chain saw to appear out of nowhere.

No sooner had the thought crossed her mind than there was a rap on her window and she screamed. Elena turned to find the bartender from the Grill, Ben, standing next to the car. She went to roll the window down but Damon's warning about not trusting anyone ran through her mind and she just cracked it instead.

"Ben? What are you doing out here?"

"I went on a walk and got a little turned around. Are you ok? Are you having car trouble?"

"Um…no…I'm…uh…waiting for Bonnie...we were going to do a séance at the old shack" she told him and hoped it was believable.

"A séance?" he asked suspiciously

"Yeah, someone told us it was haunted"

"Oh, ok. Well do you want some company while you wait? It would be nice to get out of this rain" he offered with a friendly smile.

She wasn't sure what it was but something about him seemed off and she swallowed thickly.

"I don't mean to be rude but my boyfriend is kind of the jealous type. If he found out I had another guy in his car, he would be really mad"

_That was a pathetic lie _she thought to herself.

Ben leaned down to peer at her through the window.

"Open the car door" he demanded as he stared into her eyes.

Fear gripped her. He was trying to compel her which meant he was a vampire.

"No" she said with more confidence than she felt.

He bared his fangs and snarled at her as he reached for the crack in the window. Elena went for the window crank but the tips of his fingers made it through. With a yelp, she yanked the window up hard as she could and heard the bones in his fingers snap. Ben howled in pain and pulled his other hand back to smash through the window. He grabbed for her but she managed to scramble to the other side of the car and shove the passenger door open. Ben was still trying to disentangle himself from the shattered glass and it gave her just enough time to grab the stakes and the vervain darts before she tore off into the woods.

Lightning flashed overhead while the rain poured down and in seconds she was soaked. Elena knew she didn't have long before Ben caught up to her but the ground was wet and slippery making it hard to move at anything more than a quick jog. The first time she fell she got back up and kept running, but the second time her ankle twisted painfully. She whimpered and tried to drag herself to her feet. Just as she had started to limp forward, something hit her from behind and she flew face first into the ground.

"Little bitch" she heard Ben snarl.

Elena resisted the urge to get to her feet and gripped the vervain dart in her hand. She took steadying breaths as she listened to him approach from behind. She could swear she felt her insides shaking from the effort to stay still and quiet and she hoped he thought she was unconscious. The ploy seemed to be working because a moment later she sensed him standing over her. Ben reached down and grabbed her shoulder to flip her onto her back and the instant she was face to face with him she stabbed a vervain dart into his neck. He let out a groan and fell over next to her. Ignoring the dull ache in her ankle, she got up and hobbled as quickly as she could toward the shack. Once she reached the ramshackle structure, she leaned up against the far wall to catch her breath and hide from the rain under the lip of the roof.

"Are you _insane?"_ Damon hissed as he appeared next to her.

She jumped at the sound of his voice and sucked in a sharp breath when she noticed he had a motionless Caroline in his arms. Another flash of lighting lit up the night and she could just make out Damon's furious expression and the dried blood caked in her friend's hair.

"It was Ben, the bartender from the grill. He's a vampire. He broke the car window so I ran and then I fell but I got him with a vervain dart"

The adrenaline was still pumping through her system and the words came out in a rush. Damon shook his head at her in disbelief.

"Jesus, you're like the Pied Piper for vampires. You stay here with Blondie and I'll come back for you in five minutes. If Ben or Anna shows up, start screaming bloody murder. Do not move from this spot. You got me?"

Elena nodded emphatically and Damon set her friend down next to her. She put her arm under Caroline's shoulder and lowered her carefully do the ground. Caroline groaned and her head lolled onto Elena's shoulder.

"Five minutes" he said again sternly and disappeared.

"It's ok, Care. We're going to be ok" she murmured to her friend.

Seconds ticked by like hours as they sat in complete darkness and the unrelenting rain pounded down around them. Lightning zinged through the sky again, illuminating a figure standing several yards away. It was only a flash but she could swear she saw her own face on the figure and she froze. Another crack of lighting and this time Elena was sure, the woman looked exactly like her. She also looked supremely unhappy to be standing in the rain. An instant later the figure was gone and Elena pulled Caroline closer as she curled up into a ball and tried to be invisible.

_Please don't see us, please don't see us, please don't see us _she prayed silently.

After what felt like an eternity, Damon returned. Alaric was behind him and he was holding Stefan up.

"We have to go. Now" Damon told her and hauled Caroline back into his arms.

Elena got up and winced as she put weight on her injured ankle.

"Are you hurt?" he demanded

"I just twisted my ankle, I'll be fine. Damon, I think I saw Katherine"

"You _think _you saw her?" he said impatiently and looked around.

"I saw a woman with my face over there" she said and pointed to the spot where the woman had been standing.

"Well this just keeps getting better and better. C'mon, we have to get out of here" he said and started to trudge back towards the car.

"What about Ben?" Elena asked nervously.

"Ben's dead" Ric told her.

A tiny surge of relief rolled through her.

"And Anna?"

"She took off after I killed Ben and Ric shot her in the shoulder with a stake" Damon said.

By the time they reached the car, Elena's ankle was screaming in pain and she could barely stand on it. Damon set Caroline down in the passenger seat and Elena crawled in carefully next to her.

Damon brushed the broken glass off of his seat and muttered something about wet leather and people not appreciating classic cars.

"I'm taking you and Blondie to the hospital and then we have to get Stefan back to the boarding house. Once I take care of him, I'll come back to get you" he told her.

"What about Katherine?" Elena asked.

"I can't think about that right now"

"What do I tell Sherriff Forbes? They're going to call her the second they see Caroline"

Damon seemed to think for a moment before yanking his phone out of his pocket.

"Liz, we have a problem. It's Caroline. She and Elena were attacked by a vampire"

Elena couldn't hear the words but she heard a high pitched reply.

"They're ok, I think. Caroline hit her head pretty badly and Elena hurt her ankle"

He paused to let her respond.

"I don't know exactly what happened. Elena called me in a panic and I got there just in time. It was Ben from the Grill. He's dead in the woods behind the Bennett place."

"No, I don't know who turned him but he sure as hell didn't turn himself so there's another one out there somewhere. Tell your guys to be careful"

Another pause.

"I have something I have to take care of but I'm dropping the girls off at the hospital in five minutes. I'll be back there in an hour"

Damon hung up and Elena gaped at him.

"I will never be able to lie like that" she said, amazed.

"Decades of practice, baby" he told her.

They screeched to a stop in front of the Emergency Room two minutes later.

"Can you get her inside?" Damon asked.

Elena nodded and climbed out of the car. She managed to get her arm under Caroline's shoulder and tug her gently upright. They wobbled for a moment but Elena put her weight on her good foot and hobbled around the car towards the double glass doors of the ER.

"I'll be back as soon as I can. I love you" he told her.

"I love you, too" she said and smiled weakly.

Damon drove away and she dragged herself and Caroline through the automatic doors.

"Help, please! My friend, she's hurt" she yelled as they entered the hospital.

The nurse at the desk glanced up and her eyes went wide. The short, rotund older woman with a no-nonsense face hurried out from behind the desk and started shouting for a stretcher. Two more nurses and a young female doctor Elena recognized from around town appeared and helped Caroline onto a gurney. They wheeled Caroline away as the doctor checked over her and barked out orders to the nurses. As they disappeared around a corner, exhaustion overcame her and she realized she was freezing.

"Honey, are you ok?" the older nurse asked.

"I twisted my ankle" she mumbled and felt her knees start to shake.

The woman looked small but she was sturdy as she caught Elena before her legs gave out from under her.

"Good lord child, you're soaked to the bone. Let's get you out of these wet clothes and we'll take a look at that ankle"

Elena allowed the nurse to help her to an exam room and up onto the hospital bed. The nurse, whose name tag read Lorna, set a hospital gown down next to her and gently tugged the leather jacket off of Elena's shoulders. Usually she hated being babied but she was cold and wet and her ankle was killing her so she let the woman help her out of her clothes and into the well-worn pink linen gown. Lorna wrapped a blanket around Elena's shoulders and helped her lay back on the table to get a better look at her ankle. The woman made a tsk-ing sound.

"I think you did more than just twist your ankle, honey. This looks like a nasty sprain"

For the first time since she'd fallen, Elena looked down at her foot. The appendage was swollen and had turned an alarming shade of reddish purple. Somehow seeing it made it ten times more painful and she winced.

"I bet that hurts like the dickens"

Elena just nodded pitifully.

"I'm going to go get the doctor. You just hang tight"

Lorna pulled back the curtain and Elena spotted Sherriff Forbes running through the doors.

"Sherriff Forbes!"

The small blonde woman sprinted toward Elena.

"Elena, what happened? Where's Caroline?"

"Ben attacked us in the woods and Damon saved us. The doctors took Caroline back there" she said and pointed to the doors that the stretcher had gone through a few minutes ago.

"What were you girls doing out there? You could have been killed"

"I know I'm sorry. It was stupid"

"How is she?"

Elena choked on the words.

"I…I don't know…she wasn't really awake and she had a cut on her head"

The Sherriff's face fell.

"I'm going to go check on her. I'll be right back, ok?" the Sherriff said and squeezed her hand.

Elena returned the squeeze and tried for a comforting smile. The doctor came in as Sherriff Forbes was leaving and made the same tsking sounds as the nurse. He tended to the scrapes on her hands and wrapped her ankle in an ACE bandage. He offered her something for the pain but she was too afraid to take anything that would knock her out or leave her impaired so she opted for a mild pain killer. It didn't do much good and the more she tried to ignore it, the worse the ache seemed to get. Nurse Lorna tried to tell her to rest but her mind and body were in overdrive. She jumped every time she heard the ER doors open, she flinched whenever a nurse popped in to check on her, and for the life of her she couldn't make her hands stop shaking.

"Can I help you young man?" she heard Lorna ask several minutes later.

"I'm looking for Elena Gilbert"

It was Damon's voice and she felt herself relax just a tiny bit.

"In here!" she called out to him.

"Now wait just one minute!" she heard the nurse shout.

A second later Damon burst through the curtain.

"You can't be in here. She needs to rest" Lorna said, hands on her hips.

"It's ok. He's ok" Elena told her.

Lorna gave Damon a disapproving look before she turned and went back to her desk.

"How's your ankle?" he asked tenderly and took her hand.

"It hurts" she told him honestly.

"Is it broken?"

"No, just a bad sprain. The doctor said not to walk on it for a few days"

"I guess I'll just have to carry you everywhere" he said with a half-smile.

"Or I could use crutches"

He made hmph sound.

"You don't need crutches when you have a boyfriend with super strength" he whispered to her.

Elena smiled up at him.

"Where are Caroline and Liz?" he asked and poked his head around the curtain.

"They took Caroline somewhere back there and Sherriff Forbes went to talk to the doctor"

Damon nodded.

"Listen, I hate to bring this up but we don't know what Caroline saw or heard. I have to get to her before anyone else has a chance to talk to her"

"Are you going to compel her?"

"That depends on what she says"

"Could we tell her the truth?"

"And expect her not to tell her mom? No. And Liz can't know what Stefan and I are"

Elena chewed on her lip.

"I know you don't like it but…"

Damon stopped mid-sentence as Sherriff Forbes came back through the curtain. Her eyes were red and her cheeks were stained with tears.

"How's Caroline?" Elena asked.

The Sherriff shook her head mournfully.

"They had to put her in a coma. They aren't sure she's going to wake up"

"Liz, I'm so sorry. If there's anything we can do…" Damon told her gently.

The Sherriff nodded.

"I have to go call her father"

Damon's eyes followed Sherriff Forbes out of the small space. He waited a few more beats before turning back to Elena with an odd look on his face.

"What are you thinking?" she asked.

"That I could help Caroline"

"How?" she asked with furrowed brows

He flashed his fangs at her and raised his eyebrows.

"You…you want to give her some of your blood? I'm not sure that's a good idea…"

"She would be good as new in minutes" he reasoned.

Uncertainty scratched at her mind. She knew it was dangerous and probably a bad idea but at the moment she wanted nothing more in the world than for her friend to be safe and alive. On the other hand, if something happened and Caroline turned into a vampire she would never forgive herself. It was too much for her to decide alone.

"I think I want to call Bonnie and see what she thinks"

"You don't need to call Bonnie. She's on her way here. Your phone must've died because she started calling me over and over pretty much the minute we got back to the car with Caroline"

"Why didn't you answer?" Elena asked, slightly annoyed.

"I was a little busy saving Caroline and Stefan from the lunatic vampire with mommy issues. Remember?" he said dryly.

"Oh. Right. How is Stefan?" she asked, feeling bad that she had only just remembered him.

"He's fine. He's locked in the basement"

"What? Why did you lock him up?"

"Because he's gone full ripper, Elena. We need to dry him out and get him back on the bunny diet or he's going to eat his way through Mystic Falls"

"He'll be ok, right? I mean it's Stefan so he'll be fine, right?"

Damon smiled thinly but said nothing. Lorna came through the curtain a moment later with an anxious looking Bonnie standing behind her.

"You certainly are a popular young lady, Miss Gilbert" the nurse said with a trace of scorn in her voice.

Elena gave her a sheepish look. The woman shook her head but left to go back to her station. Bonnie's eyes were filled with tears as she rushed forward to hug Elena.

"Sherriff Forbes called and told me about Caroline"

"We were actually just discussing that" Damon said and gave Elena a pointed look.

"Damon can help her, Bonnie. He can give her some of his blood and it will heal her right away"

"Do it" her friend said without hesitation.

"It's not that simple though. If something happens and she dies with vampire blood in her system, she turns into a vampire" Elena told her.

"I get that but this is Caroline we're talking about. If Damon can save her then we have to let him"

Elena nodded tentatively.

"So is that a yes?" Damon asked.

"That's a yes" Bonnie told him.

Without another word he disappeared and came back five minutes later.

"She's going to be fine. I compelled her to think that you guys were on a walk and you were attacked. She won't remember being kidnapped and in a little while she's going to wake up and become a medical miracle" he said.

Sure enough, an hour later Sherriff Forbes came in to tell them that Caroline was awake and her injuries were miraculously gone. The doctors agreed that Damon could take Elena home but, understandably, they wanted to keep Caroline overnight for observation. Damon refused to allow Elena to take a single step. He carried her to her car, which he'd driven in lieu of his own damaged vehicle, and then up to her room when they got to her house. He waited until Jenna had finished coddling and worrying over her before he snuck back in through the window to lie down next to her.

"Shouldn't you be at home with Stefan?" she asked.

"Ric is there with him. He'll be fine"

"She's out there, Damon. Katherine is out there"

"We don't know that for sure"

"But I saw her"

"You think you saw her. It was dark, you were scared and hurt. It could have been Anna"

"It wasn't" she insisted.

"Go to sleep, Elena. We'll talk about it tomorrow"

She thought about arguing but she was too tired so she closed her eyes and drifted off.

**I**t was 2 am and he was listening to the soothing sound of the baby's heartbeat when his phone buzzed in his pocket. Reluctantly, he tugged the device out and sighed when he saw it was Ric. He crept out of the window and onto the roof to take the call.

"Yeah?" he answered.

"You know if you're going to have human playthings you really shouldn't leave them alone in your house. Something might happen to them."

The silky voice on the other line sent a shudder through him.

"Katherine?" he asked, though he already knew the answer.

"The one and only"

A lump of dread formed in his stomach.

"What did you do to Ric?"

"I'm assuming you're talking about the former owner of this cell phone. I killed him. Duh" she said as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"I really like the new Salvatore place by the way. It's much nicer than that boring old plantation house" she continued.

Rage boiled in his blood.

"Get out of my house" he snarled.

"Now that's no way to talk to the love of your life. Speaking of which, now that you have the real thing back, let's get rid of the wannabe"

"Stay away from Elena"

"Come on now, lover. You can't possibly want her when you can have me" she purred

"I don't want anything to do with you"

She was silent for a beat and he could tell his hostile attitude had ruffled her feathers.

"Fine, be that way. Maybe I'll have more luck with the younger Salvatore" she said venomously.

Damon let out a bark of laughter.

"You don't want to go there. Trust me"

"Oh and why is that?"

"Well for one he hates you just as much as I do and he's feeling a little…ripper-ish at the moment. I would steer clear of Stefan for a while if I were you"

"That's no fun" she pouted.

"You know what would be fun? Watching you burst into flames. Now get the fuck out of my house"

"God when did you get so mean?"

"Probably around the time that I found out the woman I had been pining over for a hundred and forty years was a lying manipulative bitch"

"I've had about enough of your attitude, Damon and I have an errand to run. I'll catch you later, lover" she said snottily and hung up.


	20. Chapter 20 - Undead

**Hi everyone! I know I've been horrible with updating and I'm not even going to bore you with the excuses. I hope you all enjoy the latest installment and I can't wait to hear what you think! Our favorite vixen is on the loose in Mystic Falls and no one is safe…**

**xoxo**

**Chapter 20 – Undead **

Damon fumed in silence on the roof as he tried to figure out what to do next. He couldn't very well leave Elena here alone but he also needed to go check on Stefan and Ric. It was a long shot but maybe Ric was somehow still alive enough to be cured with vampire blood. After several frustrating minutes he picked up the phone again and dialed.

"Damon? It's 3am…" Bonnie said groggily when she answered the phone.

"I know. I need you to get to the Gilbert house and stay with Elena"

"Why?"

"I don't have time to explain. I have to go and she shouldn't be alone right now"

"But…" 

"Ok, thanks. Gotta go" he said quickly and hung up.

He paced impatiently on the roof until Bonnie showed up ten minutes later.

"Finally, took you long enough. I'll be back in the morning" he said as he hopped down to stand in front of her on the sidewalk.

"Wait! Where are you going?"

"My house" he said and went to leave.

"You're welcome!" she called after him.

Damon waved his hand dismissively over his back and tore off down the street at full vamp speed. The boarding house was quiet when he walked through the front door but the stake up his sleeve was at the ready. His first stop was the living room.

"Damnit…" he cursed when he saw the body of the dead history teacher in front of the fireplace.

He crouched down next to Ric and checked for a pulse but there was nothing. A strange sense of remorse hit him and he realized that he was actually going to miss the man. He stood up and poured himself a splash of bourbon. He tipped his glass toward the dead man and emptied the contents into this throat. Damon sloshed another helping of whiskey into the tumbler and allowed himself a moment of self-pity. _So much for making friends _he thought poignantly. Then, to his utter bewilderment, the teacher sucked in a lung full of air and sat bolt upright. Damon had seen a lot of strange shit in his day but this was a new one and he wondered if for some reason Katherine had decided to turn him.

"What happened?" Ric asked, sounding dazed.

"Why don't you tell me? A second ago you were dead as a doornail. Did you drink vampire blood?"

"No…Elena was here but she was acting very strange and then…I think she broke my neck" he said, sounding confused.

"Yeah that wasn't Elena. That was Katherine and she killed you. My question is how in the hell are you alive if you didn't have vampire blood in your system?"

Ric looked down at his hand and for the first time Damon noticed he was wearing a ring that was oddly similar to his daylight ring.

"Before she left, Isobel gave me this ring and said it would protect me" he said and stared down at it.

"Well that's handy" Damon said and handed him a drink.

Ric stood up and took the glass.

"How is it that Katherine looks exactly like Elena? Or I guess Elena looks like Katherine…" the teacher asked.

"Beats me" he said with a shrug.

"It would have been nice if you had shared that little tidbit with me" Ric said with a trace of anger.

"And if I were a nice person, I probably would have. But I'm me and I didn't. Get over it"

Damon slammed the rest of his drink.

"I'm going to go check on Stefan" he said.

"Where's Elena?"

"She's at her house. Bonnie is with her"

"You think that's safe?"

"Probably not but I can't be in two places at once. I came over here to see if you were really dead and check on Stefan"

"How did you know I was dead?"

"Because Katherine called me and told me that she killed you"

Damon turned and headed down the stairs to the cellar. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that his brother was still safely locked up. Stefan was awake now and was sitting on the bench with his head in his hands.

"Hey there broody."

"Go away, Damon" Stefan grumbled.

"I think what you meant to say was 'thank you, dear brother for saving my life'."

"You should have left me there"

"You're kidding me, right?"

"I killed that girl in the woods and I killed all the people she brought to me in the cellar. I killed them all while Caroline watched"

Stefan's voice was detached and when he flicked his green eyes up they were hard and cold. Damon banged his head against the steel bars of the door's tiny window and groaned.

"Please tell me you didn't"

"I had to. Don't you get it? I _killed _them, Damon. There were at least a half dozen of them and I tore them apart one by one. Caroline kept begging me to stop but I couldn't and eventually it just got to be too much"

The sad thing was he did get it. In the same situation, he probably would have flipped the switch too.

"Well turn it back on" he pleaded, though he knew it wasn't that simple.

"Why? So I can hate myself for the next hundred years?"

"As opposed to the last hundred years of glowing self-esteem?" Damon remarked snidely.

Stefan glared at him and he was half tempted to just leave his brother there to sulk alone in the basement. If he thought he could take on Katherine without him he would have, but he needed Stefan's help and it looked like he only had one option left.

"If you don't turn it back on, I'm going to call Lexi" he threatened.

Damon hated Lexi. She was his brother's best friend in the world and she had been able to help Stefan when he couldn't and he hated her for it. The fact that his reasons for hating her were completely unfounded only made him hate her more. The absolute last thing in the world he wanted to do was call Lexi, but if it would bring his brother back, he would do it.

"You wouldn't"

"Desperate times, brother"

Stefan stared him down but Damon never blinked.

"I'm calling bullshit. You wouldn't call Lexi"

Damon flashed him a sardonic smile.

"Sometimes I wonder if you know me at all" he said and went back upstairs.

A string of curses flew through his head as he scrolled through the numbers in Stefan's phone. With an annoyed huff, he found the one he was looking for. She picked up on the third ring.

"Hey, Stef! Long time no talk" she said happily

"Sorry, wrong Salvatore. It's tall, dark and handsome. Not average, annoying and broody"

"Ugh, Damon. What do you want?"

"Stefan flipped his switch"

"What did you do to him?"

"_I _didn't _do_ anything"

"Right" she said doubtfully

"Whatever. I need him back and I can't do it myself so…"

"So…?"

He clenched his jaw. She was going to make him say it.

"So I could use a hand" he gritted out.

"You got it. Where are you?"

"At our place. Stefan is in timeout downstairs"

"I can be there tomorrow night"

"Fine" he said and hung up.

"Hear that? Ripper Rehab is on her way" he yelled down the stairs.

He found Ric on his couch with a bottle of bourbon and dropped down next to him.

"Christ this day is never going to end" he said and snatched the bottle out of the other man's hand.

"I know I should sleep but I don't think I can"

"Hey at least you got a nice nap in"

"I don't think being dead counts as a nap" Ric said and grabbed the bottle back from Damon.

They sat and drank in silence for a few minutes as Damon pondered their current predicament: keeping Katherine away from, well, pretty much everyone.

"So, wanna help me kill Katherine?" he asked.

"Sure. Got nothing better to do"

"I don't suppose you have some brilliant idea as to how to do that"

"Stake her?"

Damon chuckled.

"Good plan"

"Do you have a better one?"

"Nope"

"Shouldn't you be getting back to Elena?" Ric asked.

"She'll be ok with Bonnie for a little while"

"I guess I should get back to the loft"

The teacher got to his feet and swayed.

"Whoa there, drunky. Let's not test the limits of that ring. Pass out on the couch" Damon told him.

"Maybe that's a good idea" he said and stumbled back towards the sofa.

Ric was out in seconds and Damon considered going to bed but he figured the odds of him actually sleeping were slim to none. Instead he got in the shower and stood under scalding hot water until he could barely see through the steam. He heard his phone ring once from the bedroom and ignored it. Whoever it was could wait ten minutes for the hot water to run out. Then it rang again, and again. _No rest for the wicked _he thought and reluctantly stepped out of the shower. The towel was barely around his waist when the phone went off for the fourth time. He ambled into the bedroom and picked the device up off of the nightstand. Dread seeped into his brain when he saw the persistent caller was Sherriff Forbes and he swiped at the screen to answer.

"What happened now?" he asked, resigned to hearing bad news.

"I can't find Caroline. I came back to the hospital to check on her and she's gone. This idiot nurse just let her walk out the door. Where would she have gone?" Liz told him frantically.

Katherine's words echoed in his ears _"I have an errand to run". _If Elena was right and she'd seen them in the woods, she would know exactly where to find Caroline. Being the conniving bitch that she was, she would also know that Damon wouldn't expect her to go after Blondie. He cursed under his breath.

"You should stay at the hospital in case she comes back and I'll go look for her"

"I can't just sit here. I'll leave a deputy here and come with you"

"It'll be faster if we split up" he offered and prayed she would agree.

If Katherine had killed Caroline, that meant she was in transition. He couldn't let Liz find her like that. He had to get to her first.

"Ok" Liz's voice wavered.

"It's going to be ok. We're going to find her" he promised.

"Thank you, Damon"

They hung up and he got dressed quickly. Ric was still snoring on the sofa when he grabbed his keys and took one last swallow of bourbon. Dawn was creeping up over the horizon and he hoped Caroline hadn't fed yet. Otherwise he was going to have to start looking for a pile of ash. As it happened, he didn't have to look very far. When he flung open the front door he found a terrified blonde teenager on his front porch. She was still in the hospital gown, her eyes were red, and there was blood all over her.

"Shit" he muttered.

Caroline burst into tears.

"Wha…what's happening to me?" she wailed.

"Get inside"

He grabbed her arm and tugged her into the house. The girl stood there wringing her hands and shaking like a leaf with a vacant expression on her face. The blood on her smelled fresh and he suddenly wished Lexi was here already. Damon had no idea what to do with a newbie teenage vampire. If she had been anyone else, he would have just staked her but there would be no explaining that one to Elena.

"Caroline?" he said gently.

She jumped and spun around to look at him.

"Let's go upstairs and get you cleaned up, ok? You can borrow some of Elena's clothes"

Caroline nodded and allowed him to lead her up the stairs. He handed her some clean clothes and directed her towards the shower. He texted Bonnie and told her to get over to the boarding house with Elena as soon as she could. Apparently she hadn't gone back to sleep because she texted back a second later and said they would be there in an hour. Caroline finally emerged from the bathroom and while her appearance was much improved, she still looked petrified.

"I…I think Elena told me to tell you 'let the games begin' and then smothered me with a pillow" she said weakly.

"That wasn't Elena. Look, there's a lot that needs explaining but I think it might be better coming from Bonnie and Elena. How about we get you a drink?"

"Its 5 am" she said with a raised eyebrow.

"I think you'll come to find that time is irrelevant. Especially when it comes to drinking" he told her and got to his feet.

Caroline gave him an odd look but followed after him.

"You saved me. You and Mr. Saltzman saved me from that girl and you made me drink your blood in the hospital. You told me none of it happened, that I got lost…but it _did _happen and Stefan…" she trailed off and the fear returned to her face.

They'd reached the bottom of the stairs and Damon turned to face her.

"Ok, here's the short version. I'm a vampire and so is my brother. You and Stefan were kidnapped by a vampire named Anna who's completely insane. Mr. Saltzman and I found you but you were scared and when you ran, you tripped and hit your head. You had a brain bleed but since I'm in love with your best friend and I actually like you mom, I offered to heal you with my blood. Unfortunately for you my ex, a five hundred year old vampire who looks identical to Elena, decided that turning you would be fun"

Her mouth was hanging open and she was staring at him like he had three heads.

"Is this some kind of joke? Are you guys playing a trick on me? Because if you are, it's not funny"

"There was blood all over you when you got here. How did that happen?" he asked instead of answering the question.

Her brows furrowed.

"There was a man…I woke up at the hospital and all these things started coming back to me. I freaked out and ran away. I was walking down the street and the man, he acted like he wanted to help me at first but then he started to grab at me and…I…I bit him. Oh my god I bit him…I drank his blood…and I think…I think I killed him"

"Does that sound like a practical joke to you?"

"This is crazy. I can't be a vampire. There's no such thing."

"Crazy as it may be you are, in fact, a vampire."

She shook her head vehemently.

"Wait right here and don't move" he told her.

He raced to the basement and came back with a blood bag. Damon held it out to Caroline and, as he expected, her face changed and her fangs elongated. She snatched it from his hands and stared at it wide eyed.

"I want to drink it. I don't think I've ever wanted anything more in my entire life"

"Go for it" he encouraged.

"But it's gross"

"It won't be as tasty as creepy man in the street but it'll do the trick. And it's better than bunnies"

"Bunnies?" she said horrified.

"Never mind, just try it. You'll like it. I promise"

Her expression was still skeptical but she snapped the top off and took a tentative sip. Caroline looked back up at him and then down at the bag.

"It's good" she said sounding surprised.

"I know. Finish it. You'll feel better"

She polished off the bag in seconds.

"This is really happening, isn't it?" she asked as he took the empty pouch from her hands.

"Yes"

"Why me?" tears crept into her voice.

"It might be partly my fault. I was a dick to Katherine and apparently she didn't take it very well. Elena would have been too obvious so she went for you instead"

She nodded slowly and frowned.

"I'm sorry, Caroline"

It was unlike him to apologize but she was yet another person that he had unintentionally dragged into the world of things that go bump in the night. For once he'd actually been trying to save a life rather than take one so technically this wasn't his fault, but any life plans this girl may have had just came to a screeching halt and he felt sorry for her.

"It's ok. You were just trying to help me"

"You know what they say about good deeds" he said with a grim smile.

"I think I'll take that drink now"

They went into the sitting room and Damon poured her a healthy glass of bourbon. He poured one for himself and flopped down in the easy chair.

"Is that Mr. Saltzman?" she whispered and gawked at the sleeping figure on the couch.

"Yep"

"Why is he on your couch?"

"Because he was too drunk to drive"

"So I'm a vampire and my history teacher is passed out drunk on your couch. Yep, it's going to be a weird day"

"And it's only going to get weirder, trust me"

"What happened to Stefan?"

"He…needed a time out"

Caroline cocked her head and he could see the question on her lips but she was cut off by Elena's voice calling 'hello' from the foyer.

"In here" he called back to her.

"Caroline, thank god! Your mom is going nuts" Bonnie said with relief in her voice.

"I'll call her in a little bit" Caroline promised.

"She'll be so glad you're ok. What happened to you…? Is that my shirt?" Elena asked.

The blonde's lip trembled and tears welled in her eyes.

"What's wrong, Care?" Bonnie reached out for her friend's hand.

She swallowed and looked over at Damon before grasping Bonnie's outstretched hand. Elena moved in closer and the three of them sat opposite him on the sofa.

"It looks like you may have been right about Katherine, Elena. She called me while you were sleeping and I said some things I probably shouldn't have said to her. She took it out on Caroline"

Elena looked puzzled but he could see it click with Bonnie almost immediately.

"Please tell me you're not saying what I think you're saying"

"I wish I could but I can't. She's gonna need a daylight ring" Damon told her and threw back his drink.

"No, oh please no" Elena looked to Caroline sorrowfully.

"This is my fault, if I hadn't pushed you to give her your blood this wouldn't be happening" Bonnie said sounding dazed.

Damon gave her a hard look.

"Katherine did this and the only person we are going to blame is _Katherine_. You got that, Witchy?" he said sternly.

Damon refused to play the 'if only' game with this one. It was done and there was nothing they could do about it. Playing the blame game wasn't going to help anyone.

"But…" she started.

"No, no buts. Katherine did this, do you understand me?"

Bonnie nodded.

"Say it" he demanded.

"Katherine did this. Just Katherine"

"Good. Now let's figure out how we kill her"


	21. Chapter 21 - Broody

**Happy almost Thanksgiving to my US readers! Here's chapter **_**21**_** – holy crap, 21 chapters and you guys are still with me?! You all are awesome and I hope you enjoy the latest installment! You know I'm dying to hear your feedback :) **

**xoxo**

*****Mature sexual content*** **

**(p.s. – I went a little darker than usual on the steamy stuff this time and I'd love to hear what you think of it)**

**Chapter 21 - Broody**

Two weeks went by and Lexi was still in his house and Stefan still refused to speak to anyone. He also refused to drink the bottles of bunny blood they tried to give him and his skin was starting to turn gray. Damon was starting to doubt Lexi's skills and he wished he'd never even called her. It didn't help that from the moment she'd flounced through his door, she and Elena had been besties and Lexi wouldn't shut up about Elena choosing the wrong brother. His patience was starting to wear thin. At this point he was doing everything imaginable to stay away from his house. Sadly, since he didn't have a job and his only friend spent his days teaching, everything imaginable ended up with him drinking alone at the grill. Alison, his favorite bartender because she kept an entire case of good bourbon behind the bar for him, was currently trying to pry bottle number two from his fingers. Usually he drank it by the glass and she appeared to be concerned for his wellbeing but if she didn't hand it over in the next ten seconds, he was going to drink _her_ instead.

"Damon, it's two in the afternoon on a Wednesday" Alison reasoned.

"Your point being?"

"Don't you have anything better to do? Somewhere to be?" her voice held a trace of pity.

"Nope. All I have is time…and cash" he said and slid a fifty dollar bill across the bar.

She pursed her lips at him and huffed out a breath before letting go. Damon bowed his head in thanks and uncorked the top. An hour and three quarters of a bottle later, someone sat down beside him and he swung his head around to find Elena occupying Ric's usual barstool.

"Hey" she said.

"Hey, yourself" he slurred.

"Are you drunk?"

"Most definitely" he admitted.

"That's a shame" she said with a tsk.

"Why's that?" it came out sounding like one word.

"Because Lexi had something to do tonight and I know we haven't had much alone time lately…"

"Stefan is still there"

"I know but he's there most of the time anyway and we could try to be quiet"

He flashed her a half smile.

"You are many things, Elena but quiet is not one of them"

"I also have something I want to show you"

That caught his attention.

"Oh? And what might that be?" Damon asked and gave her a devilish look.

"I can't show you here" she said enticingly.

He didn't need any more convincing. If anything was going to lure him away from his bourbon, it was the promise of a naked Elena. He waved Alison over and told her to save the rest of the bottle for Ric.

"Let's go" he told her and grabbed her hand.

"I'm sorry I've been neglecting you" she said when they were in the car.

"S'okay" he said but didn't really mean it.

Jealousy and possessiveness were part of his nature and his temper had been on a slippery slope as of late. He was glad she'd come to find him when she did. Left alone with only dark thoughts and bourbon to keep him company, there was no telling what he'd do.

"I'll make it up to you, I promise" she told him.

"I'm still taking you to the doctor tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah, as long as you're not drunk" Elena said with a raised eyebrow.

"I won't be" he promised.

They got to the boarding house and the minute he shut the door behind him, she started to pull off the oversized sweater she was wearing. In a flash, he was behind her with his arms around her waist and his mouth on her neck.

"Wait, wait. Not yet" she said and squirmed out of his arms.

"I thought you had something to show me" he sulked.

"I do" she said and turned to the side as she lifted the hem of her tank top.

It took him a second to realize what he was seeing but when he did, he was speechless. They had been sleeping together most nights but with Project Save Stefan underway, there had been little time for anything but sleep. He hadn't noticed that the tiny bump on her belly had grown substantially. In total awe, Damon reached out and placed his palm over the ever growing mound. It was the most incredible thing he'd ever seen. He pulled her closer, cradling her back against his front and nuzzled her neck while he ran his hand reverently over her stomach.

"Have I told you lately that you're the most beautiful creature on the entire planet?" he murmured into her hair.

She put her hand over his and leaned her head back into his shoulder. Damon was about to start walking her up the stairs when the door opened and Lexi walked through with Caroline in tow.

"Aww, you guys are so cute! Can I touch the bump?" Caroline cooed at them.

"This had better be good" he grumbled.

"What the hell is that?!" Lexi cried, pointing at Elena's exposed stomach.

"A baby, duh" Caroline said and rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, I see that. Whose baby is it?"

"Mine" Damon told her and wrapped his arms protectively around Elena.

He had specifically asked Elena not to mention the pregnancy to Lexi. He had zero interest in hearing what she had to say about it and since Elena had been wearing shirts that were at least three sizes too big lately, it hadn't come up until now.

"Ha-ha, very funny. Seriously, whose baby is it?"

"It's Damon's" Elena confirmed.

"I know you're not the sharpest tool in the shed, Damon but you of all people should know that vampires can't procreate" Lexi remarked with raised eyebrows.

He sighed in irritation.

"I'm sick of telling this story and since I'm clearly not getting laid, I'm going back to drinking. Call me when you're naked" he told Elena and ambled into parlor.

"**Y**ou guys couldn't have given us two hours? What are you even doing here?" Elena complained.

This was the longest they'd gone without sex since they'd been together and it was starting to stress her out. She felt like an addict who had gone too long without a fix and, unlike Damon, she wasn't allowed to drink herself into a stupor.

"It's nice to see you too, Elena" Caroline said sounding miffed.

She blew out a long breath.

"I'm sorry. It's just…never mind. Of course I'm glad to see you, Care. So what's up?"

"Lexi thinks I need to confront Stefan about what happened. She said it might help both of us"

Caroline hadn't uttered a word about what had transpired in shack to anyone. Every time Elena or Bonnie asked about it, she would completely shut down.

"Are you ready to talk about it?"

"I don't know. Not really but I guess I have to at some point, right?"

"Ok, I'm all about saving Stefan but can we go back to Elena being pregnant with Damon's evil spawn?" Lexi interrupted.

Elena gave her the abridged version.

"You have got to be kidding me. Damon Salvatore got to be human for a day _and _he gets a kid out of the deal? Could there be a less deserving vampire?" she whined.

Lexi had made it very clear that she didn't like Damon and, despite finding her comments extremely annoying, Elena had tried to be respectful. Until now. Maybe it was the hormones, maybe it was the lack of sex, but this was the absolute last straw.

"Look, I get that you don't like him and maybe you have a good reason for not liking him but I happen to be crazy, head over heels in love with him. So I would appreciate it if you could just keep your negative comments to yourself and I'd also appreciate it if you didn't refer to our child as 'evil spawn'" she snapped angrily.

"Woah, no need to get cranky" Lexi said and held up hands up defensively.

"Can we please just do whatever it is you came here to do?" Elena asked, thoroughly frustrated.

"Ok, let's do this" her friend's voice was confident but she was chewing nervously at her bottom lip.

"Are you sure you're ok with this Care?" she asked again.

"I think so. Will you stay with me?"

"Of course"

"I think I'll stay up here" Lexi said eyeing Elena warily.

Elena led the way down to the basement and stopped in front of Stefan's cell door.

"There's someone here to see you, Stefan" she said, not expecting a response.

Caroline stood next to her and peeked through the bars.

"Hey"

For the first time in two weeks, Elena saw something spark in Stefan's eyes.

"What are you doing here, Caroline?" he asked dimly.

"I came to see how you were doing"

"Do you usually check up on people who threaten to kill you?"

"This may come as a surprise but my life doesn't get threatened all that often"

"Well I'm just peachy so you can go now" he said dismissively.

"Really? Because I'm pretty sure gray skin isn't a sign of good health"

Stefan glared at her.

"I wish she would have let me kill you" he hissed venomously.

Caroline didn't even blink.

"Katherine took care of that for you" she quipped and flashed her vampire face at him.

It only lasted for a fraction of a second but Elena could have sworn she saw astonishment pass over his face.

"Why would Katherine turn you into a vampire?" he asked.

"I don't think she meant to. Damon gave me his blood so I wouldn't die from the injuries I got running away from _you_ and then she killed me."

"Oh so it's my fault?" he demanded and stood up to take two angry steps toward the door.

Elena barely dared to breathe let alone speak. This was what Lexi said they were waiting for; a show of emotion. Any emotion.

"Yes! I told you a million times; there was no way your brother or my mom were just going to leave us there and I was right! All you had to do was hold on for a few more hours and everything would have been fine"

"No Caroline, everything would not have been _fine. _You watched me rip apart six people. Did you forget about that? Did you forget about begging me to stop? About sobbing every time she told you that you were next? You have no idea what that's like."

"You're right, I don't know what that's like. But I know what it's like to get kidnapped, watch six people die horrible deaths, get smothered by a pillow, kill a man, and find out I'm a mythical creature all in less than forty eight hours so I feel it too, Stefan. Every single morning that I wake up in a cold sweat from the nightmares, I feel the urge to get shut it off."

"So why don't you? You would feel so much better if you did" he told her.

"Because I'm not a giant baby who won't deal with his issues" she snapped at him.

"I've been dealing with issues for over a century. I'm sick of it"

"Oh poor you, you get to live forever" she said spitefully and gave him her signature eye roll.

"Call me in a hundred and thirty years and tell me what you think of immortality"

"How am I supposed to do that when you'll be down here; all gray and wrinkly and probably still feeling sorry for yourself?"

Elena had to bite her cheek to stifle a snicker.

"You know what? I'm done here. If this is how you're going to be then you should just stay down here. And don't come crying to me in six months when you realize that you've missed the birth of the only niece or nephew that you will _ever_ have" Caroline said and stormed off towards the stairs.

Resisting the temptation to get one last peek at Stefan, she turned and followed after her friend.

"Wait!" he called just as Caroline reached the bottom of the steps.

Elena gave her an optimistic smile as they walked slowly back to the cell door.

"Give me the damn rabbit blood" he said through his teeth.

Caroline dashed to the refrigerator and grabbed one of the bottles. Stefan snatched it from her outstretched hand and gulped it down. The color immediately started returning to his face.

"I need one of those a day until the human blood is out of my system" he said quietly.

"Are you back?" Elena asked, finally daring to speak.

"Yes, I'm back but I need to stay in here and dry out for a couple more days"

Suddenly Lexi was there.

"And that's my cue. I'll stay with you"

Stefan nodded and started to pace around the cell anxiously.

"Will someone please bring me a book? Any book" he asked.

"I'll get one for you" Elena said.

She walked Caroline to the door and after they said their goodbyes, she went in search of Damon. Conveniently, she found him in the library. He had music on at full blast and he was dancing around with his shirt unbuttoned.

"There you are!" he yelled drunkenly when he saw her.

"Here I am" she said with an affectionate grin.

"Dance with me" he insisted and grabbed her hand.

"Damon…" she started, intending to tell him about his brother.

He cut her off as he pecked her on the lips and twirled her under his arm with what she imagined was a fraction of his vampire strength. It left her dizzy and she stumbled into his chest with a laugh. She looked up to see a rare sparkle in Damon's eyes and he had that irresistible smirk plastered across his face so Elena let him dance her around the room. When the song changed he tugged her flush against his chest and moved them in a slow, intimate circle.

"_I think I might have inhaled you, I can feel you behind my eyes. You've gotten into my bloodstream, I can feel you flowing in me" _he sung quietly in her ear as he rested his head against hers.

"Stefan is back. Lexi is with him" she murmured while they danced.

"If they start listening to Bon-Jovi, I'm staking them both"

She smiled against his neck.

"I heard you stand up for me earlier" he said tenderly.

"I just couldn't take it anymore"

"You were right though, she does have a good reason for not liking me"

"I don't care what it is, Damon. You don't have to tell me"

"Honestly, I don't really want to talk about it"

"Then let's not. Let's talk about the fact that tomorrow they might be able to tell us the sex of our baby"

"Really? Already?"

"Only if we're lucky and he's facing the right way"

"He?"

"Just a feeling I have" she said with a shrug.

It was a boy in all of her dreams so she'd started calling the baby 'he' in her head.

"Do you think it's weird that we haven't heard anything from Katherine since she turned Caroline?" she asked offhand.

"Probably but I'm trying not to think about it. I need Stefan to fix his hero hair before we start seriously working on a plan"

The music stopped and Damon let go of her.

"Are you hungry?" he asked.

"Always"

"Good, I'm starving. You go to the kitchen and I'll be right back"

"Ok, will you bring a book to Stefan please?" she called after him and made her way to the kitchen.

There was no way for Elena to pinpoint exactly when it happened but seeing him drink blood wasn't even remotely weird anymore. It was just blood. Up until they'd found out about the pregnancy, she'd been working up the nerve to ask if he wanted to feed from her. When the thought first popped into her head she was disgusted with herself. She tried not to think about it but his ramen noodles comment came to mind every time she saw him open a blood bag and if she was honest with herself, she was a just a little bit curious. Ok maybe more than just a little bit but there was no chance of it now. At least not while she was pregnant.

"What do you want? Make it easy. I'm still pretty drunk" Damon said as he came into the kitchen and cut her musings short.

"Grilled cheese?" she asked.

He frowned at her.

"I can do better than that" he told her.

Ten minutes later she had an eggplant and mozzarella Panini. Damon handed her the plate and sat across from her with his version of dinner in a glass.

"Did you bring Stefan a book?"

"Mmm-hmm" he confirmed.

"Did you talk to him?"

"Nah, we'll brother bond over some good bourbon when Nurse Ratched is gone."

"How many times have you seen this happen with Stefan?" she asked.

"Personally seen it? Twice. Once right after we turned and then again in the early 1900's. Stefan and I came home for a family funeral and I…I didn't realize what he was back then and I tried to help him. I thought I could teach him how to control it and I convinced him to drink human blood"

"What happened?"

"Same thing that happened this time. He went off the rails and Lexi came to the rescue. I didn't speak to my brother again until 1942"

Elena polished off the last bite of her sandwich and Damon swallowed the rest of the blood his in glass.

"Sooo…where were we earlier?" he asked, giving her _that _look.

Heat pooled in her stomach and she instantly felt her heartbeat speed up.

"I think we were headed towards your room"

He was on his feet in a rush of movement.

"Too far away" he told her and pulled her out of her chair.

The next thing she knew she was sitting on the counter and he was between her legs. Before his lips collided with hers, she noted that her butt was cold and she realized that somewhere between the table and the counter, he'd yanked her skirt down. She shoved the still unbuttoned shirt off his shoulders and seconds later, the rest of their clothes were scattered around the kitchen. Normally she would feel over exposed sitting naked on the kitchen counter but Damon's hands were working their magic, sliding from the swell of her hips up to the curve of her waist, making sure the only thing on her mind was him. He licked his lips when his eyes roamed over her chest and she leaned back to give him better access. Elena planted her hands down on the counter and she was so wrapped up in Damon, it took his face changing to realize that she'd put her hand down on the edge of a knife.

She hissed at the sharp pain and pulled her arm up to examine the wound. It was just a nick but there was still blood and it was dripping slowly from the slice at the base of her finger, gathering in a shallow pool at the center of her upturned palm. Damon's eyes, still swimming with red, seemed transfixed on her hand. Without even thinking, she lifted her injured hand closer to his face and watched, captivated as his lip curled up to expose the long, sharp incisors.

"Elena…" he warned hoarsely.

"I trust you" she whispered.

His gaze lifted to her face and she felt her heart skip a beat. There was something tantalizing about stark contrast between the deep crimson that surrounded the magnetic blue of his eyes. As with the first time he had shown her this face, she felt the irrepressible urge to reach up and brush the thumb of her uninjured hand across the veins churning rapidly under his skin. Carefully, as though she were made of the most delicate crystal, he cupped her bleeding hand with his own and brought it to his lips. He made a low, throaty sound as his tongue lapped up the blood in her palm. There was a split second of pain as he pulled her still bleeding finger into his mouth and sucked at it gently.

After that it was pure, molten desire vibrating through her entire being. Her breath hitched when she felt the tiny pin prick as the tip of his fang pressed against the cut and he pulled at it a bit harder. Little white stars danced in front of her eyes and she clung to his shoulder for support. It was so much more than she could have ever imagined. Nothing about it was remotely painful or unpleasant. It was a feeling of being literally and figuratively consumed by Damon and Elena was more than willing to let him devour her. Her breathing had become ragged, every nerve ending in her body was pulsing, and she ached to have him closer to her. He was taking a part of her into him and she wanted desperately to feel him inside her. On a groan, he pulled his mouth away from her finger and stared at her with a glazed expression. Drops of blood were still trickling down her finger and quick as lighting, he was licking at them with his eyes still locked on hers. Elena scooted closer to the edge of the counter and wrapped her legs around his waist.

"Damon…" she begged as the need at her center started to become unbearable.

The look he gave her as he gently dropped her hand was positively sinful. His usual playful attitude was nowhere to be found, the mischievous twinkle in his eyes had been replaced with something primal and when he gripped her hips she knew she was going to have bruises where his fingers were digging into her flesh. Elena could have cared less. The only thing she cared about was getting the hard length that was pressing insistently against her inner thigh buried deep inside her. She didn't have to wait long. Damon lifted her up and pulled her back down onto him, filling her completely.

"You're fucking incredible, you know that?" he mumbled.

Damon sped them across the room and her back hit the far wall with a soft thud. She barely had time to catch her breath before his hips were grinding hard against hers.

"Oh!" she cried out in a mix of surprise and pleasure when he hit a spot so deep inside her, she hadn't even known it existed.

"Do you like that?" he whispered hotly against her ear.

"Yes, god yes" she managed.

Grasping tightly at her waist, he tilted her hips forward and started driving into her with short, deep thrusts. Her body tried to buck instinctively but his hands were holding her firmly in place and every forward motion sent tremors up her spine. Unintelligible moans fell from her lips as she clawed at his shoulders, trying feverishly to gain some semblance of control. Damon was having none of it. He grabbed her arms and pinned her wrists above her head with one hand.

"Leave them there" he commanded.

All she could do was nod and his arm went back around her waist. His mouth, seemingly intent on marking her tonight, was nipping at the sensitive skin of her throat. When she felt the light scrape of his fangs on her jugular, her legs started to tremble in response. Elena wanted so badly to beg him to do it, to sink his teeth into her neck and bring back the earth shattering sensation she'd felt with his mouth on her hand. The only thing stopping her, and she guessed the only thing stopping him, was the life that depended on her being healthy and strong. A low, frustrated growl rumbled out of his chest and suddenly he was plunging in and out of her at a breakneck pace. Finally, he let go of her hips to wrap his arms around her body and pressed her harder into the wall as he dragged them closer to the edge of oblivion. Her arms were getting sore from holding them above her head so she mirrored his action and held tightly onto him. If possible, he was slamming into her even harder and the white hot coil that had been building inside of her started to unravel; she felt drops of sweat drip down her face, her breath was coming out in short pants, and she was trembling uncontrollably.

"So close…" she whimpered.

One more particularly deep thrust sent her screaming over the edge, tumbling madly into a mind numbing orgasm. His earlier comment about her inability to keep quiet passed vaguely through her mind when she cried out his name as he came inside her. They stayed there, tangled together against the wall, for a minute before Damon slowly lowered her legs to the floor. She tried to tell him not to let go of her but her voice wouldn't work and when his arms left her waist her knees started to buckle. Before she could fall Damon scooped her up and gave her a worried look.

"You ok? Did I hurt you?" he asked.

Elena shook her head and smiled up at him.

"No, exactly the opposite" she mumbled, curling her head into his shoulder.

There was a blur of movement and then she was laying in his bed.

"Woah, vamp speed is not good for the dizzies" she said as the room spun around her.

"Sorry. Next time you're naked in my arms, I'll be sure to walk very slowly past all the windows" he said with a grin.

She stuck her tongue out at him and he laughed.

"Water?" he asked.

She nodded and closed her eyes, silently willing the room to stand still. He was back by the time she opened them and she took the glass from his hands.

"Thank you" she said after a sip and her vision returned to normal.

Damon crawled under the covers next to her.

"Are you sure you're ok?" he asked and lifted her injured hand to examine it.

"I'm good, honest."

"That was dangerous" he told her seriously as he lightly traced his finger over the cut.

Elena couldn't bring herself to apologize for it. It had been the most intense thing she'd ever experienced and she wouldn't take it back for anything.

"I know" she said quietly.

"We can't do that again. Not for a while at least" Damon said and placed his hand meaningfully on her stomach.

"Ok" she said reluctantly.

"I mean it, Elena. What if I had taken too much? What if I'd hurt him?" he asked looking at the spot where his hand rested on her belly.

_He called it a 'him' _she thought, smiling inwardly to herself. Before now he had always said 'it' or 'the baby' and she wondered if seeing the bump had anything to do with the change.

"But you didn't" she soothed.

Damon dragged a hand through his hair.

"Look, I know you don't get it but between the sex and the way you taste…you have no idea how close I was to losing it"

"Do I taste good?" she asked with a false naïveté.

The question was half out of genuine curiosity and half just to push his buttons. His eyes narrowed at her but there was a smile playing at his lips

"Little minx" he accused and tugged her closer.

Elena snuggled into him while he ran his hand over 'the bump', as Caroline called it.

"You didn't answer the question" she pressed.

"Like a big, juicy steak" he whispered and she could feel him smirking against the top of her head.


	22. Chapter 22 - The Lake House

**Hello lovely readers! I'm not even going to give you excuses for the long hiatus. I'm just going to try and appease you by telling you that I have the final two chapters of this story written so you won't have to wait long for an update after this - hopefully that makes you as happy as it does me! **

**xoxo**

**Chapter 22 – The Lake House **

_A sullen looking teenage girl sat by herself in the café staring forlornly into her coffee. Anyone else in the establishment would have guessed that she was dealing with normal teenage girl problems. Maybe she'd had a bad breakup or a fight with a friend. The steely eyed brunette who spotted her from the street knew better. But then again, she'd been following the girl for several days. She'd been waiting for the right moment to approach the girl with her proposition. She knew she had to wait until the girl hit rock bottom before she offered up her 'help' and from the look on Anna's face, today was that day. Katherine slid smoothly into the seat across from her and cleared her throat. _

"_Katherine" the girl said, sounding more annoyed than surprised. _

"_Hello, Annabelle. How have you been?" _

"_You mean since you betrayed my mother and left her in a tomb to rot? Pretty crappy actually" _

"_What if I told you I wanted to make that right?" _

_Anna raised her eyebrows and scoffed in response. _

"_I'm serious. You don't think I feel guilty for not saving your mother? She was my best friend. Let me help you get her back"_

"_What's in it for you?" _

"_The same thing that's in it for you. You get your mother back and I get my friend back" Katherine said with a winning smile. _

_The girl wasn't buying it. _

"_Oh please. Everyone knows you're only ever out for yourself. Either tell me the real reason you want to open the tomb or go away" _

"_Fine. Your mother had something of mine when they locked her in and I need it" _

"_Not interested. Now leave me alone" _

"_What if I told you I had a Bennett witch that was willing to help us?" _

_Anna's head jerked up with hopeful eyes and Katherine knew she had her. _

**A**fter Lexi left, it took Damon and Stefan the next three weeks to search every foreclosure, vacant condo and hotel in and around Mystic Falls. No one had seen Katherine. Or if they had, she'd compelled them to forget about it. No one had seen Anna either and he was beginning to get nervous.

"Could they be working together?" Stefan asked as they exited the last condo on their list.

"Why would they be working together? Anna wants to open the tomb and Katherine wants it to stay shut" Damon reasoned.

"It just doesn't make any sense that they both vanished at the same time"

"Maybe Katherine killed Anna and left" Damon said hopefully.

"Since when are you an optimist?"

"Elena must be rubbing off on me"

In reality he knew there was no way that Katherine would leave them alone now that she'd seen Elena. He just had to make sure she didn't find out about the baby. At 16 weeks, they were into the second trimester of the pregnancy and his need to protect Elena had gone full on caveman. At the moment she was at his house with Bonnie but if he had his way they'd be on some deserted island in Fiji where no one could find them. He'd settled for a pinky promise that she would not leave the house until he got back. Damon didn't care if he was driving her nuts. As long as she and the baby were safe.

"You should take her somewhere. Get her out of Mystic Falls" Stefan suggested.

"You don't think I've tried? She won't budge. She's trying to graduate early so she can stop going to class. I don't know why she's so embarrassed. It's not like she's the first ever pregnant teenager"

"Damon, she was on the cheerleading squad at the beginning of the year and yesterday she had to go buy maternity pants" Stefan said like it should mean something to him.

"And…?"

"And teenagers are cruel. People she thought were her friends whisper and laugh at her when she walks down the hall. Matt Donovan won't even look at her. Caroline, Bonnie and I are her only friends. I can't say I blame her for wanting out of there as soon as humanly possible"

Elena hadn't breathed a word of this to Damon and it pissed him off.

"Why wouldn't she tell me any of this?" he demanded angrily.

"Are you joking? Did you or did you not tell her that you would kill anyone who threatened her?"

"It's not like I'm going to massacre the cheerleading squad for teasing her" he said unhappily.

Stefan raised his eyebrows and gave him a look.

"Ok maybe the _old _me would have but I'm the new and improved Damon. The worst I would do is compel them all to cluck like chickens for the rest of the year"

"Damon..." Stefan warned.

"Oh come on! It would be funny!"

"She didn't even want me to tell you about the teasing. Don't do anything to make her feel worse"

"Fine, then what can I do to make her feel better?"

He hated that he had no idea she was so unhappy and he hated even more than she felt like she couldn't tell him.

"Thanksgiving break is coming up. Convince her to do something other than school work"

The lake house popped into his head and he resolved to talk her into going up there for the holiday break. When they got back to the boarding house, they found Bonnie and Elena in the library with books open. Bonnie was staring off into space looking bored and Elena was scribbling furiously on a sheet of paper.

"Oh thank god you're back. Make her stop" Bonnie pleaded when she saw Stefan and Damon.

Elena looked up and glared at her friend.

"I have to finish this!" she barked and went back to writing.

Bonnie threw up her hands and got to her feet.

"I give up. She has completely lost her mind. Stefan, can you please give me a ride home?"

"Sure"

"Bye, Elena" Bonnie said loudly, her voice laced with irritation.

Elena barely looked up.

"Huh? Oh, ok. See you later"

Bonnie gave Damon a look and mouthed _"do something". _He nodded and shooed her out the door.

"Whatcha working on?" he asked her as he took Bonnie's empty seat.

"Math" she said brusquely and rubbed the eraser feverishly over the paper until the equation she'd been working on disappeared.

Elena scowled at the paper and then at the book next to it. The spot where she'd erased was smudged and it looked like she'd started over several times.

"Want some help?"

"I'm not cheating on my homework, Damon" she snapped.

"I said 'help' not 'cheat'" he told her, trying to keep his tone pleasant.

"I don't need your help!" she yelled and continued to glare at the numbers in the text book.

He clenched his fists and tried to keep in mind what Stefan had told him earlier about her classmates. After taking a calming breath, he got up and stood behind her.

"Then take a two minute break and let me rub your shoulders" he said and placed his palms at the base of her neck.

"No, I have to get this done now" she shrugged his hands off and hunched over the book.

Damon fought back the snarl of frustration. _No more mister nice vampire _he thought and grabbed her arm to yank her to her feet.

"Stop it! What are you doing?" she demanded and narrowed her eyes at him.

"You need a break, Elena" he told her sternly.

"No. I don't have time" she went to sit but he held firmly onto her arm.

"Take a break or I will rip that necklace off your throat and make you" he bit out.

"Don't you dare! I am sick and tired of you telling me what to do! If I want to finish my homework then I will!" she yelled at him.

"Damnit, Elena! I'm not asking you to jump off a bridge, I'm asking you to take a frigging break!"

"You're not _asking_ anything! As usual, you're _telling _me what to do. You are my boyfriend not my father and you _do not _get to tell me what to do!"

He softened just a fraction and dropped her arm. It was true, he'd been ordering her around like a drill sergeant and he supposed if it was him he'd be mad, too.

"Please, will you take a break? I'm asking nicely. Eat something, let me rub your shoulders, and then I swear I'll leave you alone" he begged.

"I want to finish it now" she said, sounding like a sullen child.

"I know but you're upset and you aren't going to get anything done like this"

"I just want to graduate and get it over with" Elena pouted.

"I get it. Stefan told me about people being assholes at school"

"Damon, it's no big deal. Really, it's fine" she assured him, looking a little scared.

"Relax. I'm not going to eat any cheerleaders"

"Promise?"

"I promise. But if you wanted anyone to spend the rest of the year thinking they're a farm animal, it's an option" he said with a grin.

A smile spread over her face.

"You have no idea how tempting that is" she said with a laugh.

"You've been working your ass off. Let me take you to the lake house tomorrow. You have the week off school and you can bring your stupid homework with you. Ask Caroline and Bonnie if they want to come, too"

She chewed at her lip for a moment.

"It would be nice to get out of town for a couple of days" she said and she was sold.

"So is that a yes?"

"Yes, that's a yes" Elena agreed with a smile.

Damon decided to use her good mood to make another suggestion.

"I really hate seeing you like this. What if we talked to the school about doing the rest of your classes from home? Your teachers know you're self-motivated. Would they would trust you to get it done in time and you can come into class for the tests?"

"They're going to say that I shouldn't get special treatment because I'm pregnant"

"Have you asked? Don't they let seniors on the honor roll do that anyway? It wouldn't be because you're pregnant, it would be because you're a good student and you deserve a break"

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to ask but Mr. Weber isn't going to like it"

"Let me deal with that little weasel"

"Damon…"

"C'mon, look me in the eye and tell me you wouldn't laugh if I made him smack himself in the face"

"Damon!" she scolded but she couldn't stifle the giggle.

"Seriously though, what's the point of having a boyfriend with mind control if he can't help you deal with your dickhead principal?"

"Ok, ok but just compel him to let me do this and only if he gives me a hard time about it"

"You're no fun at all" he said with a wink and a grin.

**C**aroline and Bonnie were more than willing to spend their week off at the lake house with them. It got Bonnie out of a spending time with her dad's family and Sherriff Forbes had to work so Caroline was happy not to be alone. Elena had tried to get Jeremy to come with them but John had guilt tripped him into coming for a visit and spending Thanksgiving with him. He hadn't even tried to invite Elena. News of her pregnancy had finally reached him and he was less than thrilled. He'd called and actually tried to suggest she give the baby up for adoption. She told him he was an ass and hung up on him. They hadn't spoken since.

"It's so pretty up here! I missed this place" Caroline said happily as they pulled into the driveway.

Bittersweet memories rolled through her as the house came into view. In her mind she could see younger versions of herself and Jeremy running out the front door of the over-sized log cabin toward the dock, while her dad chased after them and her mom stood at the large window and watched with a smile on her face. She felt Damon's hand on hers and he gave it a comforting squeeze.

"You ok?" he asked.

Elena nodded and gave him a thin smile. They lugged their bags out of the car and up to the front door. She and Bonnie walked inside. Caroline was right behind them until she slammed into the magical barrier.

"What the…?"

"Elena has to invite us in" Damon told her and stood patiently at the door.

"Oh, sorry. Damon, Caroline please come inside" Elena said sweetly.

Damon stepped through the threshold with confidence but Caroline poked at the doorway before coming inside. By the time they picked rooms and unpacked, it was evening and, to no one's surprise, Damon volunteered to make dinner. After they'd eaten their fill, they gathered around the fire in the living room. Damon had poured himself a drink and tugged her onto the couch so that she could lay in his lap with her head on his shoulder. She knew he wasn't asleep but he closed his eyes and faked it so she could chat with her friends. The conversation was light and as the night went on, Elena felt herself start to relax.

"So you never told us what the doctor said the other day. Is everything ok with the baby?" Bonnie asked.

"Yep, he's on track but they still can't confirm the gender"

"You really think it's a boy, huh?" Caroline asked.

"Yeah, I do" Elena said and placed her hand unconsciously over her stomach.

"Well I hope you're right because I started planning your baby shower this week. I got the _cutest _blue decorations with little zoo animals on them" Caroline told her with a grin.

Elena gave her a dark look.

"Caroline, I'm not due for another four months"

"I know but I want it to be perfect for you"

"Who are you inviting?" Elena asked, worriedly.

"Don't worry, I promise it will only be people who are really happy for you"

It was the polite way of saying that she wouldn't invite anyone from the cheer squad.

"Well at least it will be a small party. The only women who are happy for me are you, Bonnie, Jenna and Grams" Elena said cynically.

Her friends eyed her sympathetically and she instantly felt guilty for complaining. Not long ago she had been a popular cheerleader with a million friends but thinking about it now, there wasn't a single one of her so-called 'friends' that she missed even a tiny bit. The people who loved her, the people who really mattered, they were the only ones she wanted to celebrate the baby with anyway. To hell with everyone else.

"Zoo animals would be cute for a nursery theme, too" she commented, knowing it would make Caroline happy.

Her friend let out a little squeal.

"Oh my god that would be adorable! Will you let me help you decorate the nursery? Not that you couldn't do it on your own but…" Caroline trailed off and bit her lip.

Elena could guess what her friend was thinking; she would never have a nursery of her own to decorate.

"Of course you can! I would love your help. I've also been meaning to ask you guys if you would be the baby's godmothers."

"Yes!" they both said in unison and Elena felt her heart warm.

She really did have the best friends a girl could ask for.

"So will the baby have a room at the boarding house and at your house?" Bonnie asked.

The question gave her pause. Actually she hadn't really thought about where they would live after the baby was born. They seemed to move from one disaster to the next so they hadn't even talked about it.

"Um…" she said, feeling the stress in her shoulders start to return.

"You know what, forget I asked. You have plenty of time to figure it out" her friend told her with a smile.

It was too late. She was already thinking about it and just like that, four months seemed like four days. There were so many things she hadn't considered yet, so many things she and Damon hadn't talked about. Elena felt tears start to sting her eyes and she cursed her stupid pregnant hormones as she tried to breathe through them. She wanted to tackle this the way her mother would have; with confidence and grace. But she didn't feel confident or graceful. She felt like a whale with an anxiety problem.

"I think I'm going to go get some air" she said and pushed herself to her feet.

Damon's eyes flicked open and he gave her a worried look.

"I'm fine, I just need a minute" she assured him.

He swung himself into a sitting position and she could feel his gaze following her as she walked out onto the porch. The night was cool but it felt good against the frequent hot flashes that came with her pregnancy. Leaning her elbows on the porch railing, she took a long inhale and felt the crisp air flood her lungs. In an effort to regain her earlier tranquil mood, she drank in the scene in front of her. The moon looked like a shiny silver coin floating in the sky and the lake twinkled prettily under its glow. Evergreens lined the shores and extended back into a vast forest. When they were little, she and Jeremy would build a kingdom of dolls and action figures on the beach and pretend the trees were giant soldiers that protected their sand castles. The sound of crunching gravel cut through her thoughts and startled her.

"Matt?" she whispered as her oldest friend appeared under the porch light.

"Hey" he said awkwardly, his hands stuffed in his pockets.

"Where did you come from?" she asked, descending the steps to stand in front of him.

"From town…" he told her with a puzzled look

"What are you doing here?"

"Uh, you called me and asked me to meet you here"

Elena's heart skipped a beat.

"When? When did I call you?" she asked frantically.

"A couple of hours ago. Don't you remember?"

"Listen, Matt I really do want to talk to you but you need to go. Get out of here as fast as you can. I'll call you soon, I promise"

"What? No way. I drove all the way down here because you said it was urgent. What's going on, Elena?"

"Please, just trust me. You need to leave. It's not safe"

Fear was seeping into her every pore and she glanced around, panicked. She needed to get Matt out of here, _now. _

"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what's got you so freaked out" he said.

"Aww, isn't he sweet?"

It was her own voice but it had a distinctly low, smoky quality to it which meant it could only be one person. Katherine. Elena felt her hands start to shake as her own face sauntered out of the darkness to stand next to Matt. This was the first time they'd laid eyes on one another and, while Katherine appeared unfazed by the resemblance, Elena couldn't stop her jaw from dropping open. It was her face, her body, but at the same time, it wasn't. It was eerie and unnerving.

"What the…?" Matt said just before Katherine grabbed him by the back of the head and yanked his throat back.

"Shut up" she compelled him and turned back to Elena "Now, we can play this one of two ways. You can come with me on your own and your gorgeous friend here will wake up with a nasty headache and no memory of what happened. Or you call scream for Damon and I'll kill both of you before I burn this house to the ground."

"Please, please don't hurt him. I'll do whatever you want, just let him go" she begged.

"Good girl. Matty, be a dear and give Elena your car keys" she compelled him again.

Matt reached into his pocket and held his keys out. Elena clasped his hand tightly before reluctantly taking the keys.

"I'm so sorry, Matt. For everything" she said, tears welling in her eyes.

The odds of her making it through the night alive were slim to none and she wanted to at least make some kind of amends if she was never going to see him again.

"It's ok, Elena. I'm sorry too"

Katherine rolled her eyes.

"You got drunk and came up here to confront Elena but she wasn't here so you drank yourself unconscious. You'll wake up with a headache and no memory of how you got here. Now go to sleep"

Matt wobbled for a moment before collapsing at Katherine's feet. She snatched the keys out of Elena's hand and grabbed her arm to drag her down the driveway.

"You know Damon is going to come find me. How long do you think you have before the cavalry rolls in?" Elena prodded her once they were in the truck.

Katherine gave her a dirty look and then something seemed to catch her eye. Before Elena could blink, she had ripped the locket from her neck and threw it on the floor of the truck.

"Be quiet" she compelled her and, for the first time, Elena felt completely vulnerable.

**D**amon could swear he'd only closed his eyes for a moment but when Bonnie's sharp intake of breath woke him, he looked at the clock and realized thirty minutes had gone by. His first thought was _where is Elena? _He was about to ask the question aloud when Little Witch jumped to her feet and ran for the porch. In a blur of motion, he followed after her.

"Elena! ELENA!" Bonnie was screaming into the darkness.

"Where is she?" he asked hysterically.

"If I knew, would I be standing here screaming for her? I felt her fear for a second and then the connection between us broke and I can't find her"

"What's going on? I heard shouting" Caroline said as she wandered out of the house.

"Elena is gone"

"Gone? What do you mean…oh my god, is that Matt Donovan? Is he dead?" Caroline shrieked and pointed at the ground.

Damon's eyes followed her finger and sure enough, the quarterback was passed out on the gravel. Frankly, unless he knew where Elena was, Damon could give two shits about Matt Donovan. Much as it terrified him, he knew there was only one person who would have taken Elena. Katherine. Just thinking her name brought on a sick sense of dread.

"He's not dead. He's just passed out. Let's go, we need to find Elena"

"We can't just leave him here!" Caroline cried and went to kneel down next to the boy.

"Fine, you stay here with the quarterback and Bonnie and I will go find her" Damon said, irritated.

Bonnie nodded and they headed for his car.

"Where are we going?" she asked as he tore off down the driveway.

"To the old church"

"Why?"

"Because that's where the tomb is and I can't think of anywhere else to go" he told her and picked up his phone to call his brother.

Stefan answered on the first ring and agreed to head for the tomb to see what he could find out. He called back ten minutes later.

"They're here. It's Elena, Katherine, Anna and a woman I don't recognize" Stefan told him in a hushed voice.

"Can you see what they're doing?"

"Katherine was banging on the ground with a shovel and now Anna is helping her dig. Elena must be compelled. She's just sitting there not making a sound"

"The bitch must've taken her necklace" he said angrily.

"I'm going to keep watch until you get here. What's the plan?"

"Get Elena out alive and put a stake in Katherine's shriveled black heart"

"Sounds good to me. See you soon, brother"

Damon hung up and jammed the accelerator to the floor while Bonnie called her grandmother.

"I don't understand. Why would she take Elena? They don't need her for the spell" Bonnie asked after she hung up.

"Because Katherine is a vindictive bitch and Anna hates Elena"

"You think they're going to kill her?"

"Not if I have anything to say about it"


	23. Chapter 23 - Your Worst Fears

**This is the beginning of the end for this story and I just have to say thank you to all the amazing people who have taken the time to read The Parting Gift. This story has taken me over a year to write and, at times, I wondered if I would ever get it done but your encouragements have kept me going. I absolutely could not have done this without you all. **

**xoxo **

**Chapter 23 – Your Worst Fears **

**N**ever in her life had Elena ever wanted to scream so badly. It had taken Katherine all of three minutes to hear the baby's heartbeat and demand the truth from Elena. Her face had gone wild with rage and she told Elena not to say another word before she began to rail at her.

"_No, no you do _not_ get to live the life _I_ should have had! I'm going to take _everything_ from you. When I'm done with you, I'm going to kill your entire family and I'm going to make Damon to fall in love with me again" she had shouted hatefully before her lips curled up into a twisted smile. _

Now Elena was sitting in the cold woods, in the middle of the night, with two vampires who wanted her dead and she ached to get up and run but Katherine had ordered her to stay and not make a sound. Elena's throat was tight with a shriek that couldn't make its way out. Her mind buzzed with a thousand things that she literally could not say. So she sat in silence and waited nervously for whatever was coming. Anna and Katherine were pounding at the ground with shovels. The effort barely seemed to faze them but it was clearly taking longer than Katherine would have liked. Thirty minutes had gone by and the frustration that was etched on her face was now accompanied by irritated little grunts. They finally broke through whatever had been there to expose a large hole in the ground. The other woman, whom Elena assumed was a witch, gathered up the supplies she had been taking inventory of since she'd arrived shortly after Anna. The two vampires kicked away at the remaining dirt and Elena could now see that there was a creepy set of stone steps that led down to into the hole.

"Get up" Katherine demanded and yanked Elena to her feet.

The witch produced a flashlight and led the way down the stairs. Anna followed after her with Katherine dragging Elena shortly behind. At the bottom there was what appeared to be a large, round cavern. The witch snapped her fingers and torches surrounding the cavern came to life with orange flame. Elena could now see a massive stone door on the opposite side from where the stairs were.

"I can't wait to feed you to my mother. It was John Gilbert who put her down here and I always swore it would be Gilbert blood that brought her back" Anna whispered with a wicked delight that sent shivers down Elena's spine.

No sooner had the words left her mouth than a large pointed stick came through Anna's stomach and she looked down in astonishment. Blood seeped out quickly around the stick and she collapsed on the ground with a shout of pain.

"You little idiot. You really thought I'd let you free Pearl? Have you met your mother? She's at least as vengeful and vindictive as I am, if not more so"

"Then…why?" Anna asked staring up at Katherine pitifully.

"I told you, she has something of mine and I need it back. Locking you in there with…that" she waved her hand dismissively at Elena "is just a bonus. Besides, I promised you I'd reunite you with your mother, didn't I?"

Elena finally understood. Katherine was going to leave her in a tomb with a pack of ravenous vampires. She and her child were going to die a slow, painful death if she didn't find a way out of here. If she could get out of this room and make it to Matt's truck, she might have a chance. She knew Katherine had left the keys in the ignition so it was just a matter of waiting for the opportune moment.

"What's taking so long, Lucy? Hurry up" Katherine was pacing now and staring anxiously at the ominous looking door.

"You can't rush magic, Kat. This isn't a simple spell"

Anna had scooted back up against a wall and was taking long deep breaths, as if preparing for something. Then, with a groan, she pulled the stick out of her stomach and lunged at Katherine. With the element of surprise on her side, Anna smashed Katherine's head into the wall and Elena saw her opening. She headed for the stairs and scrambled up them as fast as she could. Then she was engulfed in the dark night with only tiny slivers of moonlight to guide her. She didn't care, she just started running in the direction that she'd come from. Her legs were pumping wildly, propelling her forward as fast as they could, but she knew it would never be fast enough to outrun a vampire. Still, every molecule of her body in survival mode, she kept going and prayed Anna would hold her off just a little bit longer.

The truck was just out of reach when she felt the blur of movement and Katherine's silhouette appeared suddenly in front of the truck. Panic flooded her system and she veered left, never once stopping or looking back. She didn't make it more than a few yards before she was knocked off her feet and went flying backwards into the ground.

"Go ahead, get up and try to run. You're not leaving these woods alive" Katherine called to her.

Elena scooched backwards as quietly as she could and hid behind a tree as she tried to slow her breathing.

"I mean really, how did you think this would all turn out? You and Damon have your little bundle of joy, baby makes three, and all that jazz? Get real. You're dating a _vampire, _Elena. This was never going to end with happily ever after"

Tears threatened to sneak out of her eyes but she bit them back. She would _not _let Katherine see her cry. Leaves crunched under the vampire's feet as she stalked her prey and Elena stopped breathing altogether. A hand came out of the darkness and clamped over her mouth. The fear that shot through her was short lived when she saw it was Stefan. He held his finger up to his lips and she nodded. He took his hand off her mouth and stood up. She wanted to ask him what he was doing but she realized she was still compelled into silence.

"You used to want happily ever after, too" he said loudly and moved away from the tree.

"Stefan" Katherine said breathlessly.

"Hello, Katherine. It's been a while"

"I've thought about this moment a million times. You have no idea how much I've missed you" she told him, actually sounding sincere.

"You could have had this moment lifetimes ago" he said, a trace of anger in his voice.

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to leave you but I had to"

"You had to? Just like you had to let Damon think you were in that tomb so he could pine over you and hate me for over a century?"

"You don't understand, Stefan. There's someone after me. I had to run to survive"

"And that's all that matters, isn't it? Your survival"

She didn't respond for a moment.

"It could be different this time. The three of us could run away together, like we planned. Help me get rid of the girl and we can be together forever. Just me, you and Damon."

A pair of legs appeared in front of her and her heart jumped into her throat before she realized it was Damon. He knelt down in front of her and he pulled her to her feet by her hand. Elena wasn't sure what she was expecting but it wasn't Damon twisting her arms behind her back and pushing her forward ahead of him. Before they reached Katherine and Stefan, he pressed something round and metal into her hand. It was her necklace and confusion rolled through her. What was he doing?

"This girl?" Damon asked, his voice bitterly cold.

She wanted very badly to believe that he had a plan, that this was just a ruse, but she had never heard his voice sound like that. It was utterly devoid of emotion.

"Damon" Katherine said cautiously.

"Hello, lover. I brought you a present"

"Why would you bring me a present? The last time we talked you called me…what was it? Oh yeah, a lying, manipulative, bitch"

"I was angry. I think you can understand why"

"So you're telling me that now you're willing to give up Elena to be with me?" she asked, a trace of hope in her voice.

"Of course I am. What would I want with this weak little human when I could have you?"

Ice cold dread crawled over her skin at his words. Elena had believed he truly loved her but it had always been in the back of her mind that she was a replacement for Katherine. A poor substitute that he decided was good enough to distract him for a few years. There was still a little glimmer of hope that he was faking it, that there was something she didn't know, but the glimmer was getting duller by the moment.

"And the baby?"

"Are you kidding me? What the hell am I going to do with a kid? You know me, I can't be tied down like that and I'm sick of playing house with your imposter. I love _you, _Katherine. I always have" Damon said in a deeply genuine tone that was usually reserved for Elena.

A sorrow she hadn't felt since her parents died overcame her and she sagged in his arms. There was no stopping the tears now as they slid shamelessly down her cheeks. Elena wanted to scream at him, slap him across the face, claw his pretty blue eyes out, but she still couldn't talk and she knew struggling wasn't going to get her anywhere. The ache in her heart mixed with the fear riddling her mind. She didn't want to die this way, in total misery and darkness, having never known her child. Her body shook with pain and hopelessness that she couldn't verbalize.

"I'm so glad you came to your senses. Kill her and let's get out of here" Katherine said gleefully.

"Gladly" he told her.

Damon reached up to yank Elena's head back and he lightly scraped his fangs along the column of her neck. She closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable prick of his fangs and the agony that would come along with it. Instead there was an ear splitting scream and, when she dared to open one eye, she saw that Katherine was on the ground grabbing the sides of her head. Moments later Bonnie and Sheila came out of the trees, chanting and aiming their outstretched hands at Katherine. Stefan produced a stake from behind his back and jammed between her shoulders. She let out another shriek and passed out. The Bennett Witches stopping chanting and Damon let go of Elena so he could spin her around to face him.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean any of it" he was cupping her face with his hands and his voice was full of desperation.

If there was a word for what she was feeling, she didn't know it. It was relief, fury, exhaustion, and terror all rolled into one. It overwhelmed her entire being and, unable to speak, she launched herself at Damon. She pounded her fists uselessly against his chest and he made no move to stop her. It only took a half a minute for fatigue to take hold and she fell into him. He held her for a long moment before she pulled back and shoved him away.

"Elena, please say something" he begged and she clenched her hands again.

_I can't! _she wanted to scream. She whirled away from him, massively exasperated. Stefan gave her a knowing look and came to stand in front of her. He gently took her hand and started to take her necklace. She scowled at him and pulled her hand back.

"Trust me" he pleaded.

On a hesitant sigh, she gave him the necklace.

"Elena, _say something_" he compelled her.

It was like he had untied the magical knot that had been closing off her voice and she let out a little bark of happy laughter.

"Oh my god_, thank _you! That's been killing me for hours"

She had never been more grateful to hear her voice come out of her own mouth. Stefan gave her a little nod and handed back her necklace.

"And you!" she shouted, spinning around to Damon "You unbelievable _jackass! _How _could _you? How could you say those things? The whole time she had me, I was waiting for you to come find me, I ran from her to get to you and then you…I thought…I thought you were going to…"

The insufferable tears were back and her voice failed her again.

"You needed to think it was real. I needed to stall her and I needed you to be scared so Bonnie could find us" he reasoned delicately, his eyes pleading with her.

"Well mission accomplished. I've never been more terrified in my life. She was going to leave me in that tomb with the vampires and then you…I thought I was going to die" Elena said miserably.

"Jesus, she really is completely deranged" Stefan muttered.

In the shard of moonlight, she could see Damon give the unconscious form a look like he was hoping she might just shrivel up and die. His gaze was considerably softer when it turned back to her.

"I never wanted to scare you, Elena. I hate that you were afraid of me for even a fraction of a second but it's what saved your life so you can be pissed at me but I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat. I really am sorry that I had to do it, though"

He must've been able to see the anger melting off her face because he took two steps closer to her and looked down at her.

"Can you forgive me?" he asked quietly.

"That depends on how quickly you can get me the hell out of here" she told him with a ghost of a smile.

Damon glanced disdainfully at the vampire on the ground.

"We need to deal with her first"

"Go, get her home. Stefan can help us with Katherine" Sheila told him.

"What do you mean 'deal' with her? Can't you just stake her?" Elena asked.

"Oh no, she doesn't get off that easy. We're throwing her in the tomb, where she belongs" Damon told her with a vicious smile.

She frowned, disliking the idea. Did she want Katherine to suffer? Absolutely. But she also wanted to know for certain that her evil twin was never going to bother them again.

"Don't worry. Grams and I are going to make it so nothing ever comes out of that tomb, including Katherine"

As if she knew she was being discussed, Katherine had started to groan on the ground. Before she could so much as roll over, Damon walked up to her and kicked her in the head with enough supernatural strength to break her neck.

"That should keep her out for a while. Let's go" he said.

"No. If you're not going to kill her then I want to watch her go into the tomb. I won't sleep at night if I don't" Elena said.

Damon nodded in understanding and reached for her hand. With a deep breath she laced her fingers with his and let him pull her close to his side. Stefan picked Katherine up and threw her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. When they got back to the tomb Lucy, Katherine's witch, was waiting outside and Elena tensed at the sight of her.

"She's with us. She's Sheila's niece or cousin or something" Damon told her.

Elena eyed the woman doubtfully and stayed close to Damon. They descended the steps and, once again, the uneasy feeling crept over her skin. The world's tiniest pang of pity hit her when she saw Anna's dead body sprawled face first on the floor with the stake sticking out of her shoulder. Anna might have been a complete psycho but Elena knew what losing a parent could do to a person. Imagining your mother in a dark tomb, starving, alone, and betrayed, it was enough to drive anyone crazy. Stefan dumped Katherine on the ground and came to stand next to Elena and Damon. They waited against the wall while the three witches held hands in a circle and chanted in unison. The flames of the torches roared up as their voices got louder and louder. It seemed like the chanting went on for hours but the door eventually eased opened all on its own. The three of them stopped chanting and Sheila wobbled on her feet. Stefan grabbed her under her arms before she could fall and helped her sit down. Damon had grabbed Katherine's feet and started to drag her towards the tomb.

"Wait!" Sheila gasped hoarsely.

Damon froze and looked at her expectantly.

"Vampires go in, they don't come out" she rasped.

"Right. A little help here?" he asked, looking at Stefan.

Stefan grabbed Katherine's arms and they lifted her up so that she looked like a human hammock.

"On three" Damon said.

"One, two…" Stefan counted as they swung her back and forth.

"Three" Damon said and they flung her into the tomb.

She rolled once and grumbled before she started to sit up. Elena backed away instinctively. As consciousness came back to her, Katherine groaned and groped behind her to rip the stake out of her back with a yelp. She looked up at the group of people watching her with a snarl and half crawled, half lunged at them only to be knocked back by an invisible barrier. She tried again with the same result.

"You can't do this to me!" she screamed and banged her fist against the magical wall.

"We can and we did. But don't worry, I'm sure all your 'friends' will be _so _glad to see you" Damon jeered at her.

Her eyes went wide and she peeked nervously over her shoulder.

"Damon, please don't leave me here. I love you, I've always loved you. Let me go and it will be just the two of us. We can spend eternity together. Isn't that what you've always wanted?" she batted her eyelashes at him.

"You're pathetic, Katherine" he said and turned his back on her.

"Stefan? You don't really want to do this to me, do you? You loved me once, too" she pleaded desperately.

He shook his head.

"I never loved you, Katherine. I realized the second I turned that it was all compulsion. You did this to me, you made me a monster and I will hate you for as long as I live. But at least now you don't need to run from whoever was chasing you. You should be plenty safe locked up down here"

Realizing that no one was going to help her, Katherine dropped the sweet act and her face went dark with rage.

"When I get out of here, I'm going to kill all of you. I'm going to kill you and everyone you've ever loved" she hissed evilly.

The brothers said nothing as they started to push the door shut.

"Wait! No, please stop! Elena is the doppelgänger, she's in danger. I can help you!"

They hesitated for a brief moment.

"What kind of danger?" Damon asked.

"Let me out and I'll tell you" she said hysterically.

Stefan and Damon exchanged a look and then resumed pushing on the door.

"You'll regret this!" she shouted just as the stone slab slid back into place.

"Feel better?" Damon asked when he returned to Elena's side.

"Kind of" she said staring at the door apprehensively.

"She's not getting out. Right, Bonnie?"

"That's right" her friend said.

She reached down her shirt and pulled out a long chain with an oversized yellow crystal pendant at the end. Bonnie set it carefully on the ground in front of her and held her hand over it. Lucy came to stand next to her and similarly held her hand out. They began to mumble another chant and a minute later, the crystal burst apart in a little shower of sparks. All that was left was the metal ring that had encased the ugly yellow crystal.

"There, it's done. You can't open the tomb without the crystal." Bonnie said resolutely.

Lucy snapped her fingers and the metal ring went up in a sizzle of sparks too.

"You can never be too careful" she said.

They all nodded in agreement and walked up the steps. Lucy helped Bonnie put a cloaking spell on the ruins of the old church so that no one would accidently stumble upon the tomb and they took Sheila home.

"Are we ok?" Damon asked as he drove them back to the boarding house.

Stefan had volunteered to take Matt's truck to pick up he and Caroline up from the lake so it was just the two of them for a few minutes.

"Yeah, I'm just a little freaked out is all"

"You're not mad?"

"No. Not really. I don't know"

"Which is it?" he asked lightly.

"I'm not mad. It's just that I've never seen you like that"

"Like what?"

"Like…a vampire. Cold and cruel and…scary"

"I've never lied to you about what I am, Elena" he said softly.

"I know. I just got a glimpse of what you would be like with no humanity and it freaked me out"

"I promise you, the only way, _the only way_, that I will ever turn my humanity off again is if I lose you and our kid" he told her earnestly "and you won't be around for that so you don't need to worry about it" he added with a good-humored smile.

She rolled her eyes at him but she couldn't stop her lips from twitching up into a smile.

"So are we ok? Really?" he asked again.

"Yeah, we're ok" she told him truthfully.


	24. Chapter 24 - Welcome to the World

**This actually started as an epilogue but obviously it went a little long for that but I wanted to post it in tandem with Chapter 23. So, without further ado, here is the final chapter of The Parting Gift. I don't know that I've ever been more anxious about feedback and I so hope that you think this is a worthy ending. As always, I am beyond grateful that you've taken the time to read this story.**

**(This is pretty much pure Delena fluff, by the way) **

**xoxo**

**Chapter 24 – Welcome to The World **

In the end, Elena moved into the boarding house under the stipulation from Aunt Jenna that the baby have a room at both houses. It actually worked out in her favor since she and Caroline wanted zoo animals for the nursery but Damon and Stefan were hell bent on classic cars. The doctors had finally been able to confirm her suspicions on gender and now, at nine months and six days pregnant, she just wanted her son to come into the world already. She had been incredibly annoyed at the time but now she wanted to hug Damon for compelling the principal into letting her finish school from home. Despite all of her teachers writing her glowing recommendations, Mr. Weber had been, needless to say, uncooperative when she had approached him about it.

"_I say let Damon do it" Ric told her when she asked him about it one night at dinner. _

"_Really?" she asked, shocked. _

"_Fuck Weber, that guy's a tool"_

"_You've been drinking" she accused. _

"_So? That doesn't make Weber any less of a dick and it's not like you're asking him to compel you a diploma. You're a good kid, Elena and you've had a difficult year. Give yourself a break" _

His logic was hard to argue with. At least that's how she reasoned it in her head when she asked Damon to do it. Now, with her aching back, swollen feet that she couldn't see, and endless trips to the bathroom, she simply could not imagine sitting in a classroom like this. It would have been pure torture. Currently she was sitting in front of the couch on a pile of pillows while Damon rubbed her shoulders.

"Can you compel me to give birth?" she asked, only half kidding.

"I don't think it works that way" he told her with a chuckle.

She gave a little humph and realized she had to pee…again. She sighed to herself and wished this kid would get the hell off her bladder.

"You have to go to the bathroom again, don't you?"

"How could you possibly know that?"

"Because you're squirming and it's been a whole ten minutes since you last peed" he teased.

Elena leaned back and stuck her tongue out at him. He smirked at her before maneuvering himself off the couch to help her up. He tugged her to her feet and, as usual, held her hands for a moment to make sure she was steady. The second she stood upright she felt a little bubble inside her burst and then there was a warm gush of liquid between her legs.

"Um…" she said and looked down.

Damon followed her gaze and his eyes went wide.

"Oh…oh holy shit. Did your water just break?"

"Uh-huh" she confirmed in a daze.

It was really happening. They were going to have a baby. She looked up at Damon and he was apparently in the same state of mind as she was because he was just standing there staring at her blankly. Dimly she remembered that they needed the bag they had packed.

"The bag?" she asked him.

**H**er voice brought him out of his stupor and he launched into action.

"Right, the bag. Stefan, get the bag! It's time!"

Stefan was there a fraction of a second later with the duffel bag in hand. At the moment, Damon couldn't even remember what was in the bag but he knew whatever it was, they needed it. They got Elena into the car and Damon tore off towards the hospital. With very little convincing, Elena had agreed to allow him to drive her to the hospital. He didn't care what their record time was, no ambulance was going to get anywhere faster than him in the Camaro.

The first contraction hit her twenty minutes later, just a few miles from the hospital, and the scream she let out was like nothing he'd ever heard in his life. And, between the Civil War and vampirism, he'd heard his fair share of painful screams.

"We're almost there, baby. Just a couple more minutes"

He hoped that their 'drug free' birth plan worked. Damon still didn't understand why she wouldn't do the epidural but she was adamant about it. They'd argued over it for a week before Caroline had a shockingly brilliant idea.

"_Why don't you just compel the pain away?" she'd suggested. _

_Damon had opened his mouth to tell her it was idiotic but he couldn't think of a good reason why._

"_Could you really do that?" Elena asked him hopefully. _

"_I…I guess I don't see why not…but I want a second opinion" he told them with a furrowed brow. _

_For lack of a better source, he'd had decided to ask Sheila. She'd had a similar reaction. _

"_Well I don't think that's a good…then again…as long as she can still feel the pressure and knows when to push, I suppose there wouldn't be any harm in it" she'd said with a thoughtful expression. _

Damon had rehearsed what he was going to say a thousand times out loud and in his head. He knew he could do it, he'd been compelling people to do all sorts of things for decades, but this was important. This wasn't making sure a person forgot they'd been bitten. This was Elena having their kid. If he fucked this up, he'd have to listen to her scream like that for god only knew how long. He remembered his mother telling him once that it had taken her twelve hours to bring him into the world and the idea of listening to her scream in agony for half a day was unbearable.

"Ok, we're here" he said and leaped out of the car.

"I'll find parking. You get her inside" Stefan said and hopped into the driver's seat as Damon helped her out.

"Wow that really fucking hurt" she said as he walked her inside.

"Can I get some help here?" he yelled.

The same nurse that had attended to her the night they'd rescued Caroline and Stefan came around the corner and saw her.

"Oh my goodness, look at you! You're ready to pop, aren't you?" she exclaimed excitedly.

_Ya think? _he thought to himself. The nurse called for a wheelchair and started to coo at Elena in that an obnoxiously mothering tone.

"How 'bout that wheelchair?" he snapped at her.

The woman crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes at him in a stare that probably put most men in their place. Damon was not most men and he met her hard gaze with his own. A moment later, they silently agreed that he was scarier and she scurried off to find the wheelchair.

"That wasn't very nice" Elena admonished him mildly.

He shrugged and less than a minute later, a different nurse produced the wheelchair.

"But effective" he said as he helped her sit down.

He also, not very nicely, insisted the nurse let him follow her while he pushed Elena down the hall.

"So long as you promise to teach our son to say please and thank you"

"Let's just hope he has his mother's patient streak" he whispered to her.

The nurse led them to a private room and left as soon as she possibly could. Stefan came in a few minutes later looking a tiny bit frazzled.

"Is everything ok?" he asked.

"Yep. We're just waiting for the doctor to come in"

"Ok" he said and handed Damon the bag before he plopped down in one of the chairs.

Not long after Stefan arrived, Jenna appeared with Ric and Jeremy, followed shortly after that by Bonnie, Caroline and Sheriff Forbes. They all stayed and fussed over her until the doctor appeared ten minutes later. Then it dwindled to just Damon and he remained glue to her side. The rest decided to wait it out in the lounge with promises to check on her periodically.

"How are you feeling, Elena?" Dr. Fell asked when everyone had gone.

Damon gave a little sigh of relief when he saw her. He and Elena had gone through several annoyingly peppy doctors before settling on the no nonsense woman with the easy going nature and kind smile.

"I'm ok. I had a contraction about a half hour ago but nothing since"

The doctor nodded.

"And I see your water broke"

"Yep"

"No one's been in to check and see how far along you are?"

"No, not yet" Elena confirmed.

"Gee I wonder why" she said and gave Damon a knowing look.

"I'm running low on patience tonight, Doc" he told her.

"Well if her contractions are thirty minutes or more apart, you better stock up on some"

"You jinxed it" Elena gasped and grabbed for his hand.

A slightly quieter version of that scream left her throat and she gripped his hand hard enough to make him grateful for his speedy healing. He helped her breathe through this one and hoped they were alone soon so he could take the pain away.

"Ok let's check you out" Dr. Fell said when it was over and went to work.

She didn't bother asking Damon if he was going to stay. It had long ago been established that he was not the squeamish type. She also didn't bother asking Elena about the epidural again. The doc had been on his side but when he told her it was a lost cause, she stopped mentioning it.

"Everything looks normal but you've got a little way to go before we start pushing so I'm going to give you my number. When the contractions start to get around ten minutes apart, text me and I'll come right back"

She scribbled the number on a piece of paper and handed it to Damon. After a few reassurances to Elena that she was going do great, the doctor left. He waited for her footsteps to disappear down the hall before he got up and locked the door.

"Are you absolutely certain you don't want the epidural?" he asked one last time.

"Yes. No drugs"

"Alrighty then, here we go. Give me your necklace" he told her.

Elena handed it to him and smiled.

"I trust you. Everything is going to be fine" she assured him.

He stared into her eyes with intent.

"Yes, it is. You're not going to feel any more pain tonight. All you have to do is feel the pressure and push when Dr. Fell tells you to. You're going to be fine, you can do this"

There was no question in his voice when he compelled her and he knew it had worked when she repeated the last sentence back to him in a zombie like tone.

"That was it?" she asked.

"Yep"

"I thought there would be more to it" she said uncertainly.

"Do I look like a poet to you? I didn't want to over complicate it. And I believe the response you were looking for was 'thank you, Damon'" he said snidely.

"Jeez, you are grouchy. Why don't you grab a bottle from the bag?"

He had completely forgotten about the bag and the fact that it contained bottles of blood. Conceding that she was probably right, he retrieved one and drank it all in several long gulps.

"There's a flask in there too" she told him.

"Really?" he asked her with amused surprise.

"Really"

"God I love you" he said and stood up to kiss her.

It lasted longer than a kiss with a woman giving birth probably should but he didn't care. She was perfect and he would kiss her in whatever state she was in.

"Thank you, Damon. For everything" she murmured when he finally pulled away.

"Marry me" he said without thinking.

"What?" Elena asked, suddenly wide eyed.

"Marry me" he said more insistently.

"Are you serious?"

"I don't know if I've ever been more serious about anything in my life. I'll get you a ring tomorrow, I'll get you the biggest goddamn diamond on the planet, if you say you'll marry me" he told her and grabbed her hand.

He meant every word and it was a second, maybe less, that she stared at him in silence but he couldn't remember a longer silence.

"Yes, yes! Of course, yes!" she said and laughed joyfully.

_Did she just say 'yes'? _his brain wondered. _Yes, yes she did_ it confirmed a moment later. It had barely sunk in when another contraction came and she grabbed his arm.

"Are you ok? Does it hurt?" he asked urgently.

"No, it's fine. I can definitely feel the pressure but it doesn't hurt at all"

Damon checked his watch and noted that fifteen minutes had gone by since the last one. The next one came ten minutes later, the next five minutes after that. Everything seemed to move in a haze after that one. He sent the doc a text and, as promised, she was there mere minutes later. Jenna was seconds behind her and before he could even form a thought, Elena was gripping his hand while her aunt coached her through her breathing exercises. The final time was four hours, fifteen minutes. He was grateful it wasn't twelve. Elena wasn't in any pain but by the end her hair was damp with sweat and the effort she was putting into pushing appeared monumental.

"Almost there, Elena. One more big push and it'll all be over" Dr. Fell told her.

Elena nodded and squeezed his hand while she pushed again. Maybe he should have expected the high pitched cry but he didn't. At first it didn't even dawn on him what he was hearing. Then he realized it was his son and his entire world stopped for a second. Their son was here. Damon felt the room start to tilt until he realized someone was holding out a pair of surgical scissors for him to cut the umbilical cord. He managed to cut it and then the doc was handing the baby off to a nurse to be checked. It didn't take them long and a few minutes later they had placed a small blue bundle in Elena's arms. He peered down at the miniature person wrapped in the bundle with a sense of wonder that was beyond words. Slowly, carefully, he reached down and brushed his knuckle across the baby's tiny face. When Elena came into his life, he was certain that he would never love anyone as much as he loved her. He was unprepared for the tidal wave of emotions that crashed into him when he looked at his son. It didn't necessarily outweigh what he felt for Elena but it was something different entirely. It was rooted in his blood and he swore that this boy, his boy, would never want for anything. Maybe it wouldn't be a 'traditional' upbringing but Damon silently promised his child that he would do everything in his power to make sure he grew up surrounded by happiness and people who loved him.

"So…what's his name?" Dr. Fell asked.

"Grayson Gilbert Salvatore" Elena told her.

"After your dad. I like that" Jenna said with a smile.

"We'll give you two a few minutes and then we'll start to let visitors come by" Dr. Fell said started to usher everyone out.

The Doc gave Jenna a look and she followed Dr. Fell grudgingly out of the room.

"Do you want to hold him?" Elena asked when they were alone.

"Is it safe?"

She smiled at him.

"Yes, it's safe"

Gently, she lifted the baby into his arms and he mentally went through the short list of rules the doctor had given him. Damon half expected the tiny person peering up at him to start wailing the moment Elena handed him off but the little guy barely stirred.

"This is not to say that I didn't think you were amazing before but now, as far as I'm concerned, you're pretty much the most amazing woman that ever lived" Damon told Elena with a grin as he cradled their son.

Stefan chose that moment to poke his head in the door.

"Add this to the list of things I never thought I would see"

"Quit being a dick and come meet your nephew"

"Damon!" Elena scolded.

"What? He doesn't know what I'm saying yet" he said and smiled down at the blue bundle in his arms.

The eye-roll quickly turned to a smile when Stefan came to peer down at the baby.

"He's amazing. What's his name?" his voice was low and reverent.

They had chosen the name weeks ago but opted to keep it a secret. Partly because they wanted to make sure it was a good fit, but also because Damon enjoyed driving Caroline insane.

"Grayson. Grayson Gilbert Salvatore" Damon told him.

"That's perfect"

The rest of the gang followed shortly after and he reluctantly allowed them to hold the baby until he started to whine and squirm in Jenna's arms. Elena took him back and announced that she thought the baby was hungry. After that, it was back to just the two of them.

"I'm glad you're not weird about this" she told him as he sat by her side.

"About what?"

"Breastfeeding"

"Why would I be weird about it?"

"I don't know. I guess some men are"

"According to who?" he asked dubiously.

"The internet…" she replied in a voice that said she knew it was a stupid answer.

"Uh-huh, I'm sure Mommypedia is super reliable but I'd say I'm more jealous that weirded out" he said and stared shamelessly at her chest.

She didn't even bother to 'Damon!' him, she just shook her head and bit her lip in a failed effort not to smile.

"So we were sort of discussing something before this guy decided to make his grand entrance" he commented carefully.

"I remember"

"I wasn't exaggerating about the diamond" he said with deflecting sarcasm.

"I don't care about a diamond, Damon. The only things that matter are us and our family. I can't say I'll marry you tomorrow or even this year but the answer is still yes, I would love to be your wife"

He grinned at her in awe. She really was amazing and he couldn't imagine a more perfect match for him. Who else would be foolish enough to agree to marry him?

"You're crazy. You know that, right?" he told her, still grinning.

"Said the pot to the kettle" she replied with a raised eyebrow

"Touché" he said and kissed her.

"I don't know if life is ever going to be easy for us but if we face it together, we can survive anything" she told him, one hand cradling his face, the other their son.

"I love you, Elena"

"I love you, Damon"

**The end…? **

**A/N - I'm possibly, maybe, sorta thinking about a continuation of this story but I don't have anything solid in my head yet. I was thinking about an extended prologue featuring Damon, Elena and the gang while Grayson grows up and then maybe Grayson gets his own story arc as a teen. Is that something you all would read? **

**If you have a thought or a suggestion on this or another story idea, please don't be shy. I would LOVE to hear it! **

**Love always, **

**~P**


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